


for who I have not yet become

by lol-phan-af (lol_phan_af)



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Small Town, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Like one, M/M, Multi, Slurs, Verbal Abuse, fight me, her name is margarita forever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-12 17:52:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 25
Words: 31,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7116553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lol_phan_af/pseuds/lol-phan-af
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the end of the summer, and other than moving to this small ass town with George and Martha in the beginning of June a month and a half ago, he had nothing to show for it. </p><p>AKA the small town au that nobody asked for</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It's the end of the summer, and other than moving to this small ass town with George and Martha in the beginning of June a month and a half ago, he has nothing to show for it. He spends all of his time sleeping and writing and eating like once in the middle of the day. If that's how to have a good summer, then Alex's has been pretty fan-fucking-tastic.  
  
One day he's typing outside, an improvement from typing in total darkness, when a black car rolls up in front of the entryway and honks the horn so loud that Alex's heart skips a beat.   
  
The entryway is a long cement pathway from the patio of Alex's house to the back alleyway where everyone who lives on the street parks. Alex actually shares his entryway with the Mulligans, the family who lives in the house next to his. Alexander had met Hugh and Sarah, but the two kids that they have mentioned multiple times remained a mystery to Alex.  
  
Alex guesses that the person who walks out of the house is one of the two children. He stares at the mysterious maybe-Mulligan as discreetly as he can, i.e., very obviously. The Mulligan boy doesn't notice him at first, but when he does, he stops. Alex straightens up, trying to look as if he wasn't just side-eyeing the shit out of him.  
  
"You're Mr. and Mrs. Washington's son, aren't you?" he asks, taking out one of his earbuds that he has in. Alex just stares at him, finally gaining the strength to nod at him. The boy smiles.  
  
"Alexander Hamilton," Alex mumbles, hands fidgeting behind his laptop screen.  
  
"I'm Hercules, one half of the Mulligan children," he introduces, holding out his hand for Alex to take.  
  
"I don't know if you want to shake my hand, it's pretty sweaty," Alex warns, wiping his hand on his shorts.  
  
Hercules shrugs. "I'll go through worse," he says. Alex grins and takes Hercules' hand, shaking it. The car horn honks again, surprising Alex. Alex's hand tightens its grip on Hercules as a response. Hercules laughs and Alex pulls his hand away, looking down at the ground.  
  
"I have to go now, but I'll talk to you later, Alex," Hercules tells him, leaving Alex and walking down the entryway. Alex can hear the music blaring and the people laughing over it as Hercules opens the car door. Right before the door closes and the car drives away, Alex can vaguely hear someone ask who he was talking to over the music.  
  
Alex would probably pay to know the answer that Hercules gives.  
  
\---  
  
It's a whole week later when Alex is invited to go somewhere with Hercules and his other friends. Alex and Hercules had spent most of the weekdays when their parents were at work together, sitting inside or outside and just talking. Alex didn't have any other friends, so when Hercules offered him this opportunity to make some, he didn't turn the offer down.  
  
The same sleek black car from before rolls up in front of the entryway, honking the horn just as loud as the last time. Hercules drags Alex out of his house from where he was pacing in the living room, pulling him down the entryway and down the alley. Alex shivers as the air conditioning from the inside of the car as Hercules opens the door. There's a boy and a girl sitting in the front seat, both staring and Hercules and Alex.  
  
"Where are the girls and Lafayette?" Hercules asks John, crawling into the backseat. Alex crawls in behind him, anxiety building in his chest. How may people were going to be here exactly?  
  
"They're picking up Adrienne and meeting us there," the boy explains. Hercules makes a sound to say he understands.  
  
"Who is your friend?" The girl asks, looking back at Hercules as the boy drives out of the alleyway and turns on to the one highway in the town.  
  
"Maria, this is Alex. Alex, that's Maria and that's John," Hercules says, pointing to each of them as he says their names. Maria waves, smiling when Alex waves back.  
  
The rest of the ride is spent in silence, none of them knowing exactly what to talk about with Alex, as none of them know him at all. The car is freezing to the point of numbness, but Alex is sweating.  
  
There's five people loitering around an even more expensive looking car than John's across the empty baseball field they drive up to. It's gotten dark since they started driving, creating an eerie feeling on the whole situation. Alex stares out of the window. His head whips around to Hercules, who is staring back at Alex with a dangerous look in his eyes.  
  
"Is this a drug thing?" He asks out loud. John laughs, more like guffaws, in response.  
  
"I wish," John says, unbuckling his seatbelt and getting out of the car. The rest of them, including Alex, follow suit.  
  
"John, the most hardcore drug you have ever seen is a fucking aspirin. Sit down," Maria says. John's draw drops open, offended.  
  
"Y'know I don't have to drive you home," John points out, crossing his arms over his chest.  
  
"Fine, then don't. I can go with Angelica and spend fifteen minutes squished in between Lafayette and Eliza. That's a dream, John, not revenge," Maria fires back and John huffs, effectively and thoroughly shut down.  
  
Once the four of them are close enough, two of the five people leaning on the car stand up and open the trunk. They pull out a large blue plastic container and shut the trunk behind it. They carry it out to the center of the field, setting it down on the ground.

The remaining three people on the car meet the four of them on the walk to the center. They all hug each other like they haven't seen one another in months, all laughs and tight gripping around shoulders and waists.  
  
"Guys, this is my friend and next door neighbor, Alex," Hercules introduces him. Him, John, and Maria all walk off to join the two people in the centerfield.  
  
"Hi," Alex mutters. This just might possibly be the most attractive conglomeration of people has ever seen in his life and him meeting them could have been postponed three thousand years and Alex still wouldn't have been ready.  
  
"I'm Eliza and this is my sister, Peggy," Eliza says to him, gesturing to the girl standing next to her. They're both beaming at him, and Alex finds himself smiling back from the sheer magnitude of it.  
  
"Hey nerds! Get the fuck over here!" The girl who carried one side of the container yells across the field. Eliza swats her hand at her and the girl scoffs.  
  
"That's my other sister, Angelica," Eliza explains. Alex nods in response.  
  
"I'm Adrienne," the third and final girl says to him with a very strong French accent from where she's standing next to Eliza. She's shorter than him, hair pulled tightly back into a ballerina bun and she's covered in glitter. She looks kind of like a fairy, Alex thinks.  
  
"I'm Alex," Alex says back dumbly, blinking absentmindedly.  
  
"Hercules told us," she tells him, smirking in a kind way if that was even possible.  
  
"Yeah, but I didn't," Alex argues and Adrienne puts her hands up, surrendering. The distant sound of Angelica snapping her fingers telling them to hurry up. The four of them get the message, jogging over to where the rest of them are.  
  
"Who are you?" the other person who carried the plastic container asks, their face matching Angelica's.  
  
"Alexander Hamilton," Alex responds. They have the same glittery effect as Adrienne and the same French accent.  
  
"Nice. I'm Lafayette." They open up the plastic container, revealing a fuckton of fireworks and sparklers that Alex wasn't expecting.  
  
"Is this legal?" He asks, peering further into the box.  
  
"Don't worry about it," Angelica tells him, lighting the utility lighter she's holding experimentally. Alex is genuinely afraid.  
  
As it turns out, Angelica is not an arsonist looking for a new target. She just happens to be very enthusiastic about fireworks purchased from undisclosed manufacturers. Alex can relate to that.  
  
The nine of them spend the night lighting fireworks in the field and setting them off, watching at the beautiful colored firework lights explode into the night sky and disappear. Lights in the rooms of distant houses turn on, awoken by the booming sound of the fireworks.  
  
At about three o'clock in the morning, Alex can't really tell anymore, Eliza takes a box of sparklers from the box and lights them. She hands them out to everyone and they all spend what seems like hours chasing each other around with them, their laughter echoing for miles into the darkness.   
  
The amount of energy that all of them have seems to go down as the sparklers die out. When the final sparkler finally smokes out, even if it's blown out by Hercules, they all collapse onto the ground, exhausted. Alex can feel his new bug bites itching, but it doesn't matter to him as he falls asleep in between Angelica and John in the pale light of the rising sun.  
  
When Alex wakes up, Angelica and Lafayette are carrying the plastic container of fireworks back to the car. There's grass stains covering at least half of his clothing, John has his arms wrapped around Alex's torso, and Alex can't sit up even if he tried. He nudges John, trying to wake him up so he can move.

"John, wake up," Alex says, shaking him. John opens his eyes, squinting at Alex. Realizing who it is, he turns red, arms uncoiling from Alex's waist as if Alex had smacked him. He stands up, eyes scanning the field until he finds discarded sparkler sticks and starts picking them up.  
  
Alex doesn't think about it further, letting John pick up the sparklers. He lays on his back, staring up at the sky and waiting for everyone to wake up, which they do.  
  
Alex and Hercules get dropped off by John in the front of their houses on the highway. The each part ways, Hercules unlocking his front door and going in his house. Alex groggily leans against the door, knocking as hard as he can in his half asleep state.  
  
Before he can even register it, the lock is turning and the door is opening, sending him falling into Martha's arms. She catches him like she had expected it, dragging him to the couch, and laying him down. He cuddles into the couch, the soft cushioning of it being a heavenly contrast to the hard ground he had slept on previously.

"Alex," Martha whispers and Alex can see through his half lidded eyes that Martha is about to say something, but her mouth closes and she takes a blanket from the couch arm and drapes it over him. She moves his hair from over his face, kisses him on the forehead, and leaves the living room.  
  
Alex is back asleep in seconds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to look up small town inspirational quotes for this title and I feel like I cheated


	2. Chapter 2

Alex's life returns to the way it was after that night, reverting back to his routine of eating once a day and being generally unhealthy. At first he thinks it's because they didn't actually like him at all, but when Hercules asks him if he wants to go out for ice cream with him and John, it proves him wrong.  
  
John parks his car in the alleyway, joining Alex and Hercules where they're sitting on Hercules' patio. Hercules is sitting on one chair with his feet resting on another and Alex's legs on top of his shins.  
  
"Ready to go?" John asks, gesturing the stairwell in between their houses.  
  
"As ready as I will ever be to drown in my own sweat," Alex responds, taking his legs off of Hercules and standing up. Hercules stands up with him, unlatching the fence and walking up the stairwell to the highway sidewalk. The three of them walk squished side by side together, walking the six block distance between the houses and the ice cream shop.  
  
The ice cream shop is cold, to say the least. It has black and white checkered floors with blue walls. The walls have various neon light signs made to look like ice cream cones and the menu posted at every other table.  
  
"Oh my god," Alex whispers, rushing over and pressing his face and hands against the ice cream freezer like a toddler, hungrily staring at all of the containers. He kneels down on the floor, never taking his eyes off of the ice cream.  
  
"Are you okay?" John asks seriously. Alex nods.  
  
"I've never been to an ice cream parlor before," Alex tells him, voice muffled against the glass.  
  
"We'll have to take you here more often then," John tells him ruffling his hair.  
  
"Yes you will," Alex agrees, voice still muffled. A girl walks up to the counter and stares back at Alex through the glass. Alex blushes and stands up.  
  
"Can I help you?" She asks.  
  
"Yeah can I get cotton candy in the biggest size you have?" Alex requests. The girl furrows her eyebrows. She looks between Alex, John, and Hercules, trying to find an explanation as to why. She doesn't find one.  
  
"Sure, yeah, of course," She mutters nervously, hands shaking as she takes a cup roughly the size of the width of Alex's face, and starts scooping cotton candy ice cream into it. After three heaping scoops of the ice cream, the girl looks up at Alex, who is staring back at her expectantly. She sighs and switches the ice cream cup and scoop in her hands and continues scooping.  
  
After six scoops of ice cream, the deed is finally done. The poor girl weighs the behemoth cup, fear genuine and ever-present.  
  
"Th-that'll be $6.17," she tells him, her voice shaky. He pulls an old ten dollar bill out of his jeans pocket and sets it on the counter, telling her to keep the change. She does, dropping all of the change into the tips jar.  
  
By the time John and Hercules get to the table Alex picked, Alex has already devoured half of his ice cream and isn't slowing down. He has ice cream all over his face, some on his neck, and even some in his hair. He stops when John and Hercules sit down, taking napkins from the napkin holder in the center of the table and wiping down his whole face.   
  
"I wish I never had to see that," John says.  
  
"But you're glad you did." Alex wiggles his eyebrows, winks at him. John kicks him in the shin under the table.  
  
"Anyway, John, do you know when the Schuylers and Lafayette are getting back from their beach trip?" Hercules asks, licking the spoonful of cake batter ice cream off of his spoon.  
  
"Next Sunday, which means that the sleepover is on Tuesday," John responds. He looks between Alex and Hercules, his straw making a slurping sound as it struggles to suck up the milkshake that was made extra thick per John's request.  
  
"Sleepover?" Alex asks. Hercules nods.  
  
"We all have a back to school sleepover and the end of the summer as the one final thing to do before hell starts. It's really fun. I'm sure you're invited," Hercules says. Alex nods, contemplating.  
  
They all finish their desserts, throwing away the paper cups and starting the walk back home. It takes a significantly shorter time than before, Alex trying to outrun the bees that swarm around him and Hercules and John trying to match pace.  
  
When they finally do get home, John says goodbye to the two of them, walking down to his car and driving home.  
  
"I'll ask Angelica about the sleepover," Hercules tells Alex before he goes into his house. Alex nods at the space where Hercules had just been occupying and goes back into his house, trying to ignore the cotton candy caused stomachache.   
  
\---  
  
As it turns out, Alex is invited to the sleepover. Hercules drives him and Maria to the Schuyler house in his own car, and Alex spends five minutes staring at it. Every house in the neighborhood is huge, but this is the biggest one by far.  
  
Maria knocks on the door, smiling when Eliza answers it. Eliza doesn't even seem to notice Alex or Hercules.  
  
"Maria!" She says, hugging Maria tightly. Maria laughs quietly hugging Eliza back just as hard. They stand there for a while, swaying together. Hercules stares at them, trying to suppress his knowing smile and failing. Eliza pulls away first, telling her to go into the living room with everyone else. She moves on to hug Hercules and then Alex before telling them the same thing.  
  
They go into the living room where everyone else is, but Angelica leads them all into a theater room the size of Alex's whole house.  
  
"What are we watching this year?" Hercules asks, sitting down in one of the small recliner couches in the room.  
  
"An American classic," Angelica says as the High School Musical DVD menu appears on the screen.  
  
Peggy leaves the room, returning with a basket filled with snacks and soda and generally just everything that you'd ever want to eat at a sleepover and then some. Nobody hesitates to raid the basket and take literally everything and anything from it for themselves and then settling in one of the recliners.  
  
Alex's voice is hoarse by the end of High School Musical 2, worn out by the amount of singing he's been doing. He's pretty sure John is in the same boat as him as he just forced into a coughing fit after trying to sing Everyday. They had all stared at him until it stopped, Hercules clapping him on the back.

Eliza is already asleep, head slumping on Maria's shoulder. Maria is lying as still as she can, trying to wake her. Most of the stuff that Peggy brought in had been ravaged, the empty bags and bottles all thrown into a trash bag that Peggy had wisely put in the bottom of the basket.  
  
When the final song of the movie starts, Angelica pauses it and runs up to the front of the room. She carefully takes Maria out from underneath Eliza, dragging her up to the front of the room. She does this again and again until her, Maria, Peggy, Hercules, John, and Lafayette are all standing in the front of the room. Him and Adrienne look at each other, but it's two different looks. Alex looks confused, Adrienne looks excited not for herself but for him.  
  
Angelica hits play and it starts.  
  
All six of them are facing away from the screen, but they know the dance perfectly. Alex sits back, astonished. When it gets to the part of the song where they all join together and its the whole cast dancing, Alex and Adrienne join the dance.  
  
Alex takes the part of Zeke, dancing with Angelica, who is Sharpay in this song. Adrienne is now Martha and dances with Lafayette, who is Ryan. Angelica stares at him surprised when Alex does the rest of the choreography perfectly. He winks at her and she rolls his eyes. He laughs, almost messing up the dance.

The song ends and the final credits roll, and Eliza, now awake, claps, laughing. The eight of them laugh with her, all of them collapsing onto the couches, exhausted.  
  
Angelica puts on the third movie, but she's asleep by the time I Want It All starts. The only people awake are Alex and John, but John is rapidly falling asleep as the movie continues.  
  
"I love this song," John mumbles. He tries to sing the songs, but the words come out as passionate, incoherent mumbling. Alex struggles to laugh quietly, his whole body shaking. John hits him on the shoulder, not appreciating being laughed at.  
  
"Sorry," Alex chokes out, still laughing.  
  
"Y'know s'mething Alex? We all really liked you, but now I dunno considering I am being _bullied_ ," John says, and then he falls asleep completely. Alex is frozen.  
  
They actually like him.  
  
He has a hard time sleeping after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahahah ha idk why I didn't give the Schuylers Netflix like they definitely have it I just,,,,,didn't,,,,,give them it.,,,


	3. Chapter 3

All of them, minus Peggy as she is a junior, are sitting in their homeroom on the first day of senior year, and they are fucking tired.  
  
Alex's head has his hit his desk three times because he keeps falling asleep. The pain of the impact of his forehead hitting the plastic desktop is the only thing keeping him awake. He's been staring at the false wood pattern for five minutes, his eyes unfocused, making this much more interesting than it actually is. Angelica is taking pity on him, rubbing his shoulder comfortingly as if she isn't about to fall asleep on it.  
  
Hercules and John are trading colored pens, Hercules offering to give John three black pens if John would give him the lime green one that he has. John is trying to get four black pens out of him, but Hercules won't budge because he only has four black pens. Nobody was sure how the bargaining started, and they weren't really following now either.  
  
Maria and Lafayette are both almost asleep, leaning against each other and trying desperately to ignore the desk arm digging into their sides. Eliza and Adrienne, having gotten enough sleep but still tired, have enough energy to watch them, but not enough to try and wake them.  
  
"Who is this?" Dolley Payne asks, walking up to the group of them and looking at Alex. James Madison follows behind her, hand clenched around a white handkerchief with JM embroidered on it. Alex laughs. He looks like a child. Alex is very tired.  
  
"Alexander Hamilton," Alex says, holding out his hand. Dolley shakes it, hesitant due to Alexander's very obvious fatigue.  
  
"Dolley Payne. This is James," she tells him, moving her head slightly so that Alex can see James standing behind her. Alex makes a sleepy peace sign to James, which Angelica forces him to put down. James shifts closer to Dolley, trying to hide as much of himself as he can.  
  
"What's wrong?" She asks, looking back at him. When he doesn't answer, Dolley follows where he's looking.  
  
Martha Wayles and Thomas Jefferson walk in, arms linked, talking animatedly. Dolley rolls her eyes.  
  
"We have to g-," Dolley tries to say, but she's stopped by Thomas Jefferson wrapping his arm around Dolley's shoulder like an asshole.  
  
"Who is this?" He asks Angelica in a condescending tone. Angelica just stares at him, eyes squinted.  
  
"Alex Hamilton," she says, "but he could've told you that himself had you asked him."  
  
"I thought we were friends, Angelica," Jefferson remarks, unlinking his arm from Martha's in favor of putting his hand on his hip.  
  
"We are when you're not being a dick," she responds, and Jefferson gasps, truly scandalized.  
  
"I haven't even said five words to him!"  
  
"The way you said them to me was enough," she responds. He opens his mouth to say something, but then Alex opens his.  
  
"Excuse me, Thomas, but I believe Miss Schuyler is trying to get you to leave us alone. God knows your presence will not be missed," he mutters the last part, but judging by the look on Jefferson's face, he doesn't say it quietly enough. Dolley curls her lips into her mouth and bites down to keep herself from laughing.  
  
"How dare you!" Jefferson almost yells, voice cracking twice. Dolley's mouth bursts open, spit flying everywhere, her face impossibly red. Her foot pounds on the floor, trying to contain it but failing.  
  
"Dolley!" Martha gasps, trying to act like she's not also laughing. Dolley doesn't stop laughing, tears forming in her eyes and rolling down her face.    
  
"It wasn't even that funny," Dolley sobs out. She falls to the floor.  
  
"It wasn't even that funny," she repeats. Martha looks concerned, patting Dolley's head for lack of knowledge on what else to do.  
  
Thomas is still staring at Alex, anger in his eyes.  
  
"Just who do you think you a-"  
  
Thomas is stopped by James putting a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Calm down, please," is all James says, but it seems to have the opposite effect. Dolley stands up as Thomas' head whips around to face James. His neck cracks but he doesn't say anything about it.  
  
"Why would I do that?"  
  
"Because that vein in your forehead is going to pop if you don't," Alex chimes in. Dolley snorts and Martha elbows her in the stomach. Jefferson turns back to face him.  
  
"My face is as flawless as you are incompetent," Thomas tells him.  
  
"Then your face must be pretty fucked up," Alex says back, eyebrows raised. James is the one to burst out laughing this time, but he tries to hide it behind his handkerchief.  
  
"James!" Thomas exclaims, seeming to be more offended by this than anything Alex had said.  
  
"Sorry," James heaves out in between laughs. Thomas gasps.  
  
Thomas completely forgets about trying to drag Alex then and starts to yell at James. Not real yelling, just the basic 'we are best friends and I'm so offended' yelling. James tries to compose himself, but he laughs the whole time that Thomas screams. He goes into a coughing fit after he gets called at 'six feet tall teddy bear of protectiveness', cackling so hard that Dolley asks him if she wants her to go get his inhaler. James shakes his head no, getting his breath back after a moment.  
  
Another boy walks up the eight of them, staring at James as he does.  
  
"Hi, I'm Aaron Burr, and I just wanted to let you know that you probably shouldn't talk to them if you want to avoid their insults," he says. Alex hates him. He hasn't done anything, but he's just so awake. Alex hates it.  
  
"Nice to meet you, Aaron Burr, but if they start something with me I'm definitely going to finish it," Alex tells him, crossing his arms over his chest.  
  
Burr rolls his eyes. "Alright then, I was just trying to help you. Your funeral," he says, going to return to his desk.  
  
"Burr, you're just bitter because Theodosia won't dump Jacques and date you," John sneers, and Burr looks like he's going to deck him. He stomps back over to his desk as a very pretty girl walks in the room and sits next to him.  
  
"You're going to get wrinkles if you keep frowning like that," she tells him, poking his cheek. Burr's mouth curls into a smile, unable to resist her.  
  
"I don't think wrinkles are exactly the end all be all of bad looks," Burr speaks, looking at her.  
  
"Whatever, you should come out in the hall with me. Jacques said he has something to show me for our senior year and I need back up so he doesn't try anything weird." Theodosia gets up from her desk and moves back towards the door she just came in.  
  
Burr's smile falters, but he scrambles to follow her anyway. He trips over a desk leg in his pathetic clambering.  
  
The eight of them were awake to watch it, chortling to themselves as it happens. As Burr finally trips out of the room, the late bell rings and announcements begin.  
  
This is going to be an interesting year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HHAaAhaAHhaAhahAHahHAHahHAhahH


	4. Chapter 4

It happens on their day off. Their school always gave the high school the day after the first day off while the elementary had their first day. The nine of them decided to use this day to drive to the nearest mall, forty minutes away, to buy clothes and whatever else they wanted.  
  
Alex is standing in the dressing room, looking at himself in the mirror. He's wearing a tank top that he found on sale for ten dollars on the summer sale clearance rack. It has a weird pattern on it that Alex loves and the sides are cut down to basically nothing so you can see his entire torso if you just looked at it. He thinks he works it.  
  
John, Hercules, and Angelica are all waiting for him outside. They've been trying to get him to show them the tank top for five minutes, but Alex won't move from his spot.  
  
"Alex, if you stay in there for one more minute I'm coming in there I swear to god," Angelica tells him.  
  
"If you want to _do the deed_ with me in this dressing room, Angelica, all you have to do is ask," he remarks, laughing when he hears her scoff.

"That is the grossest thing you have ever said to me," she tells him.  
  
Alex comes out of the dressing room in the shirt, spinning in a circle as he does. Angelica is sitting on a bench outside of the door with Hercules, and John is checking price tags of dress shirts, looking exactly as bored as he feels.  
  
"How do I look?" he asks.  
  
"Kind of like a fuckboy, but in a good way," Hercules tells him. Alex furrows his eyebrows at him, but shrugs.  
  
"That makes sense. Angelica, John, thoughts?"  
  
"I think you look good," Angelica says. Alex wiggles his eyebrows and winks at her. Angelica stands and flicks him in the temple.    
  
When Alex looks at John, though, he's as red as a traffic light and getting redder. The price tag he's holding is being crushed in his hand and his jaw is clenches so tight Alex is surprised he can't hear his teeth being ground to dust.   
  
"You look nice," He strains to say. He drops the tag on the shirt he was looking at and rushes away to another part of the store.  
  
"What was that about?" Alex asks the two of them. Angelica tries to see where he went, but sits up straight when she can't.  
  
"I have no idea," she says.  
  
Alex shrugs. When they all leave, Alex has a pretzel in one hand and the bag with the shirt in it in the other. John is walking on the other side of them all, trying to stay as far away from Alex as he possibly can.

He seems out of it the whole drive home, too. He almost drives past Alex and Hercules' entryway completely, slamming on the brakes when he realizes it. When Alex and Hercules gets out, Hercules tells John to go home and get some rest. John laughs and says he will, driving away once they're out of the car.  
  
"Is John okay?" Alex asks Hercules as they walk up to their respective houses.

"No idea," Hercules says.

When John goes home that night, he runs up to his bedroom and locks the door behind him. If he cries, that's not something he has to admit to anyone.  
  
\---  
  
Three days later, John is dating Martha Manning.

They all know Martha. She sits next to Hercules in most of their shared classes, and she never speaks to anyone. In their sophomore year, someone had spread a rumor that she was obsessed with John. They had waved it off, not believing it, but now they supposed that she had at least liked him then, because she said yes now.  
  
They're all at Hercules' house. All of them except John because he's on his first date with Martha and texted them in the group chat telling him that he wouldn't be there. All of them showed up early to Hercules house after getting that message, desperately wanting to discuss this with each other.  
  
"This is crazy," Eliza says, leaning against Hercules couch from where she's sitting on the ground.  
  
"I thought John was gay," Alex tells her.  
  
"We all thought he was gay, that's the thing!" Eliza responds.  
  
"I still think he is," Lafayette informs them from where they're laying on Hercules' couch.  
  
"Lafayette!" Adrienne scolds. Lafayette shrugs.    
  
"I'm just saying that he didn't ever say he never ever said that he was interested in girls. He never even wanted a girlfriend until the mall trip. We all know what happened at the mall trip," Lafayette tells them. Angelica, Hercules, and Alex look at each other.  
  
"You weren't even there for the mall trip thing," Alex says, turning backwards to look at Lafayette.  
  
"Yes I was," Lafayette claims, sitting up. "I _was_ the mall trip thing," they add.  
  
"Not for the thing with me in the tank top."  
  
"What thing with you in a tank top?" They ask.  
  
"The mall thing!"  
  
"I'm talking about the thing with me in a skirt."  
  
"What thing?"  
  
"The mall thing!" Lafayette yells.  
  
"So you're telling us that John had multiple gay panics in the mall on Thursday?" Maria asks.  
  
"Yes," Lafayette says.

"I guess?" Alex responds.   
  
"That's the best thing I have ever heard." Eliza glares at her.  
  
"Poor John, though," Maria adds, staring at Eliza. Eliza nods and Maria nods back.  
  
"What are we going to do about this, though?" Hercules asks them all.  
  
"We're going to support him, because that's all we can do," Eliza speaks, looking to all of them. This is a command, an irrefutable instruction. The rest of them nod at her and at each other, sealing the deal.  
  
A steady silence falls on all of them, none of them sure what to say about the situation at hand.  
  
"Does anyone want ice cream?" Hercules asks, and the silence is broken.  
  
They all follow him into the kitchen, leaving the problem of possibly gay John and his girlfriend to be dealt with another day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha this is so short but there will be another chapter up today probably bc it's 9:20 AM and I have a ton of time


	5. Chapter 5

In the past six years that Lafayette has been living with the Schuyler sisters, they had always wanted their birthday to be an event. They had always had huge parties or sleepovers, the Schuyler family being endlessly generous to them and allowing these happenings to occur at their house.

This year, however, Lafayette didn't want a big party. They just wanted to be with all of their friends, go to a Chinese buffet, eat until they're on the brink of exploding, and then go home with the same friends and cuddle with them until they fall asleep.

So that's what they do.

All nine of them are standing by a water fountain in the restaurant, waiting to be seated. The fountain takes up the entire wall, pennies and other various coins embedded in cement painted to look like a different type of rock. Coins, arcade tokens, and even a charm from a charm bracelet lay at the bottom of the pool of water. Lafayette stares at it, fascinated.

Alex digs all of the change out of his pockets, handing each of them their own coin.

"Are we really doing this?" Hercules asks, flipping over the nickel in his hand. They're all silent before hearing the plunking noise of Lafayette's coin in the water.

"Happy birthday to me," Lafayette whispers, smiling to themselves.

The rest of them follow, flicking their coins into the fountain and making their wishes. A woman comes out, interrupting their moment to guide them to their table. She pulls a chair out to place at the head of the table. Lafayette sits down in that seat, bouncing excitedly as all of their friends sit down.

"So, what was your wish?" Adrienne asks them. The woman who seated them gets all of their drink orders and leaves.

"If I tell you, it won't come true," Lafayette tells her, smiling before standing up to go to the buffet.

Their table was stacked with empty plates, bowls, and cups as far as Lafayette could see. All of them were leaning back on their chairs, very focused on trying not to vomit onto the table. John's stomach makes a noise, lurching. John makes a guttural noise, leaning forward.

Adrienne is laughing at something Eliza said when her phone starts ringing in her purse. The pretty sound of the orchestral ringtone is muffled until she grabs it out of her purse and answers it.  
  
" _Père_?" She says.  
  
"What's wrong?" Lafayette mouths, but she doesn't answer. They look to John and Alex, the only other French speaking people at the table who are sitting on opposite ends on opposite sides. The two of them both look back at them, equally concerned.  
  
" _Je serai à la maison le plus tôt possible_." Her father speaks back frantically, and Adrienne shuffles to collect her things.

" _Je vais être à l'extérieur, puis_ ," she tells her father, ending the call.  
  
"Where are you going?" Lafayette asks, desperately looking for an answer from her.

" _Joyeux anniversaire, mon amour. Je t'aime_ ," she says. She kisses them on the cheek and runs out of the restaurant.

" _Je t'aime_ ," Lafayette whispers to Adrienne as she leaves, absently touching the kiss mark on their cheek.

"Are you okay, Lafayette?" Alex asks, and Lafayette nods.

"I have you all, and that's enough," Lafayette assures him.

Lafayette covers their own and Adrienne's check, trying to not let it effect them to much on the drive home.

When the remaining eight of them meet again at the Schuyler house, the sisters lead them to a different room. Maria, John, Alex, and Hercules drag their overnight bags with them, carrying it until they see what they've been led to.

This room was a living room, probably not the only one in the house given its size, and there were five pull out couches. The couches had been set up apart from the wall so all of the mattresses touched, creating one huge mattress that spanned across half of the room. There's a huge flat screen TV in front of the huge makeshift bed, taking up most of the wall it's mounted on.

"This is the most amazing thing that I have ever seen," Alex says, staring at it in awe.

"This is where we're sleeping tonight," Angelica informs them.

"Get changed first, you know where the bathrooms are," Eliza says to all of them. In unison, Angelica, Eliza, Peggy, and Lafayette all spin around and leave the room, going off to change in their respective bedrooms.

They spend the whole night on those mattresses save for once when John has to leave to pee. They had watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame, each of them settling down into their own separate sections of the couch.

Maria, Eliza, and Peggy all were lying one way horizontally on one couch. They were all trying to watch the movie, but they were balancing between being asleep and awake, falling more on the asleep side than the latter.

Angelica and John weren't cuddling as much as they were using each other to combat the central air conditioner that her father still has on. Angelica had her arm lazily draped across John's stomach, and John had his arm around Angelica's shoulders. Both of them were knocked the fuck out, unable to be woken up even if you tried.

Finally, there was Alex, Lafayette, and Hercules. Lafayette was sandwiched between the two of them, arms wrapped around Alex's torso. Hercules is lying behind them, already asleep, one arm holding Lafayette close to him. Alex puts his cold feet on Lafayette's calves, and Lafayette jumps. Alex giggles to himself and Lafayette pinches him in the side, causing Alex to yelp.

"I surrender, God," Alex mumbles to Lafayette. Lafayette takes pity, kissing their hand and placing it where they pinched. Alex takes their hand, moving it back to where it was around his waist and nuzzles back into Lafayette's chest. Alex is asleep within seconds of that, his quiet snoring still audible over the TV.

As Lafayette falls asleep, they can't help but thinking that they wouldn't mind spending the rest of their life falling asleep like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS ONE IS EVEN SHORTER FU CK BUT ITS STILL A CHAPTER AND IT WAS POSTED ON THE SAME DAY BUT AO3 DOES STUFF W/ THE DATE IDK


	6. Chapter 6

Alex stares out of Hercules' window at all of the trees passing, wondering how long it will be until they get there. He's trying not to focus on Martha in the passenger seat of John's car, her hand wandering dangerously close to where John's hand is on the center console. He instead chooses to focus on his legs and how they're being unfairly shoved onto the hump in the middle seat because both Hercules and Lafayette refuse to make room to accommodate him.  
  
The tension in the car is thick, and Alex can feel it in the way that Lafayette is breathing as shallowly as they can as to not disturb the peace with the carbon dioxide they're expelling from their lungs. Hercules is moving his leg incessantly, trying to focus on that and not anything else.  
  
The fair was in town, and it was possibly the most anticipated moment of the whole year. The ten of them all decided to set out to the grounds immediately after school. They had only formally met Martha that afternoon. She wasn't awful. In fact, she was actually great, but when she's dating Maybe Gay John, her presence does cause some skepticism.  
  
"Did you hear what happened with Jefferson today?" Martha asks, turning back to look at Alex, Lafayette, and Hercules.   
  
"Oh my god, yes!" Lafayette yells. John looks at them, confused.   
  
"What happened?" John asks. Hercules and Alex nod to him to say that they're equally confused, glancing back and forth between Lafayette and Martha.   
  
"Thomas asked Sally Hemings if she wanted to go to the fair with him," Lafayette explains.   
  
"Sally Hemings the junior? Martha Wayles' half sister? _That_ Sally Hemings?" Alex asks.   
  
"Yes!" Lafayette cries, head falling on Alex's shoulder.   
  
"Sally went off and then she fucking maced him and ran to tell Martha," Martha tells them, smile on her face. Hercules' jaw dropped, Alex screamed, and John almost swerved off of the road because he was laughing so hard.   
  
"Then Martha broke up with him while he was on the floor crying from being maced," Lafayette adds.   
  
"Yes! Go Martha W.!" Alex screams. He does some arm movements that he calls dancing and the rest of them call a mess. Martha laughs at him and Alex smiles.   
  
The rest of the trip there is spent in tensionless silence with Alex laughing every few minutes because he's visualizing Jefferson getting maced in his mind.   
  
They meet the rest of the girls at an orange juice stand. Maria is texting furiously on her phone, holding it between her and Eliza so Eliza could read the absolute nonsense she is being forced to endure.  
  
"Adrienne! The light of my life!" Lafayette calls, running over to Adrienne and picking her up off of the ground.   
  
"They're a cute couple," Martha remarks at Lafayette and Adrienne, both of which are giggling in each other's arms now.   
  
"They're not dating," John tells her.   
  
"Oh," she whispers. She stares at them, not understanding how two people could be so close without dating.  
  
"You wouldn't be the only person to think that. I think it's because they're French but they say that we don't know how to love," John says.  
  
"Did you know that Maria is dating James Reynolds now?" Alex asks John, walking back to him from where he was just talking to Maria and Eliza.   
  
"She is?" John asks.  
  
"Yeah! He wanted her to come here with him but she said no so now he's blowing up her phone and won't shut the fuck up."   
  
"Why would she even date a guy like that?" Martha asked.   
  
"Oh that's easy. Eliza loves Maria and Maria loves Eliza but neither of them know about it. Then, because Maria gets really emo about not being able to date Eliza, she lowers her standards to basically nothing and then goes for whoever she wants to. It's only happened twice before and we didn't know them when it did, but it's always a mess," John responds. Martha nods, looking at Eliza's head on Maria's shoulder as they both look at the text messages.   
  
"Okay, let's go! We don't have all day!" Angelica says like she's leading a Girl Scout troop instead of walking around the fair with her best friends. She's wearing sunglasses despite it being fairly rainy and gray. She leads the nine of them through the grounds, everyone stopping when one of them points out something.   
  
All nine of them come to an immediate halt when they hear the sound of Thomas Jefferson's drawling voice behind them and Madison's quiet agreement.   
  
"I mean, I do feel bad. I should apologize, but I can't risk being pepper sprayed again, James, I  _can't_ ," he says. All nine of them are turned away from him, trying to look like they're not eavesdropping when they very obviously are.  
  
"Martha is a better person than you are so she'll be over it in like a week. Besides, I think she likes that Bathurst kid in our English class," James tells him. Thomas makes a noise like he is about to argue that Martha isn't _that great_ , but stops because he's fucking wrong and shrugs. The nine of them flee the scene then, deciding that this conversation was not one they needed to hear.  
  
They spend hours at the fair, staying until it gets dark. When they leave, their stomachs are all filled with as much deep fried food as they could get their hands on. They all have matching sand art in glass bottles that have googly eyes and pom poms on their corks and for noses. Eliza is carrying a giant stuffed lion that she one on one of the games. Alex, who lost the game against Eliza, is carrying his own bitterness.   
  
Lafayette and Adrienne both have their arms full of fair merchandise. They each a bag of cotton candy, wearing their matching shutter sunglasses like they didn't go out of style in 2011. They both have large smoothies held in plastic containers with palm tree lids that they're struggling to carry because of everything else they have. Adrienne's purse is filled with their other stuff, the clasp on it straining to stay closed.   
  
Angelica ends up taking Martha home, Adrienne offering to go in John's car so that her and Lafayette can divvy up their purchases when they go to her house. Adrienne is asleep against John's passenger seat window, forehead pressed up against the glass.  
  
Alex follows Adrienne's lead and also falls asleep in the car, leaning on Hercules' chest. Hercules reaches up to card his fingers through Alex's hair, rolling his eyes when Lafayette starts taking pictures of them with the flash on.   
  
When Alex wakes up, he's in his bed. He has fifty notifications on his phone in the group chat, one is just thirty pictures of him asleep on Hercules from Lafayette and one is him asleep in his bed from Hercules. They other forty-eight are from the rest of them, including Martha, crying over how cute it was.   
  
Alex rolls his eyes, smiling. He sends a text message in the group chat of a winky face with fourteen chins, plugs in his phone, and goes back to sleep.   
  
He doesn't know what text messages he's going to wake up to tomorrow, but he's willing to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HAVE FUCKING FLIP FLOP TAN LINES WHY ARE THEY HAVING MORE FUN THAN ME


	7. Chapter 7

The nine of them watch as Theodosia leans over Burr's desk, her arm pressing against his as she leans to look at something on his desk. Burr whispers something furiously after and she laughs, wrapping her arm around his shoulders and saying something back. Burr's shoulders tense and he looks over at her slowly. She smiles at him, and both of them resume looking at whatever is on Burr's desk.  
  
"What's happening?" Angelica asks, directing the question at all of them while staring at Theodosia and Burr.   
  
"Miss Bartow and Mr. Burr went to the fair together without Jacques. I heard that they had a good time, if you catch my drift," James Reynolds tells them, holding Maria close to him. Maria smiles at him, but he doesn't smile back. Maria stops smiling.  
  
"Australia can catch your drift, James," Hercules tells him, rolling his eyes. James glares at him.  
  
Theodosia and Burr jump apart as Jacques walks into the room. Theodosia stands up to hug him, hesitantly kissing him. Jacques deepens the kiss, and Burr is bitter. Theo opens one eye and, noticing that Jacques is much more into this than she is, reaches behind her and rests her hand on Burr's desk. Burr gently rests his hand on hers, trying to make it look casual and failing.  
  
"This is bizarre," Lafayette says, watching the whole thing happen.  
  
"Avert your eyes from that! We have something more important to tell you," Jefferson announces, standing directly in front of Alex to draw all of their attention away from them.  
  
"Get your crotch out of my face and we can chat," Alex remarks, eyes closed to spare whatever innocence he has left. Jefferson rolls his eyes and steps away from Alex's desk.  
  
"Anyway, we're having a Halloween/birthday party for Martha W. and you're all invited. Including Peggy," Dolley tells them.  
  
"Personally, I didn't want to invite any of you but Dolley, Jemmy, and Martha all did," Thomas makes sure to let them know. James hits him on the shoulders, embarrassed at the usage of his nickname.  
  
"We'd love to go," Angelica says to Dolley, pointedly ignoring Jefferson and Madison and whatever they have going on at the moment.  
  
"Perfect." Dolley takes a piece of scrap paper out of her pocket and slides it across Angelica's desk. She leans in close to Angelica's ear, a shiver running down the latter's spine.  
  
"If you have any questions, you can call me," Dolley says, voice lower than before. Her fingers lift from the desk with an undefined but still precise grace and she walks away. Hercules whistles at Angelica, but she ignores him.  
  
"James?" Angelica asks, staring at the small piece of paper that definitely is a phone number. James steps in front of Thomas in order to be able to look at Jessica.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Are you okay with this?"  
  
"Why wouldn't I be?"  
  
"Aren't you and her like basically dating?"  
  
Jefferson straight up guffaws. "Him and Dolley? As if! Dolley is a stone cold motherfucker and way too badass for James. Not to mention-"  
  
  
"Thomas," James says, and this time Thomas is taken back to earth. He turns to look James in the eyes, and all of the can physically feel themselves be locked out of this moment.  
  
"What, James?" Thomas asks softly. Alex is going to vomit.  
  
"Thomas," James says, but it's not with the same urgent need to get him to stop as before. It's quieter, like he's shocked at the way Thomas had spoken to him and he's trying to match it. Angelica, who is thoroughly not having it, slaps the surface of her desk so that James and Thomas both look at her.  
  
"So you're not bothered if she flirts with me?"  
  
James shakes his head, and Angelica smirks. She looks at the phone number one more time.  
  
"We have costumes to buy," she tells them all.  
  
\---  
  
They all spend ten minutes in the parking lot after school calling their parents for permission to go shopping after school. After they all have the reluctant permission, they pack themselves into their cars and set off to the nearest costume store.  
  
Martha picked out the Morticia Addams costume as soon as she saw it, hugging it close to her chest like it's her most prozed possession. Adrienne already had her fairy costume, looking now for the right kind of glitter to buy.  
  
"This would be more fun if Maria were here," Eliza says, looking at a frog costume. Maria had turned down this trip because she had a date with James.  
  
"Are you okay?" Alex asks quietly, standing next to her.  
  
"Well, to be honest, no! I'm not! The girl who I've been pretty much in love with for five years is dating the guy who got suspended once for trying to sell other people's nudes for fifty dollars a piece!" Eliza yells, drawing the attention of a few people that pass them.  
  
Alex hugs her, not knowing what else to do. She hugs him back tightly, refusing to let herself cry right now.  
  
Angelica comes over to them and drags them over to the dressing room where the rest of them are, assuring Eliza that they can talk about it later. The eldest Schuyler sister goes into the dressing room, emerging moments later in a full queen outfit.  
  
"Does this scream 'I am probably better than you' or do I have to find a new costume?" she questions, twirling around.  
  
"I think you work it," Alex says honestly.  
  
"You know that picture where it's like a guy and he's really badly photoshopped and it's like 'I can be your devil or your angle'?" Lafayette calls from where they are in the dressing room next to Angelica's.  
  
"I love that picture!" Peggy calls back.  
  
"What about it?" John asks.  
  
"I am the angle," Lafayette says, stepping out in an angel costume.  
  
"I hate this with every fiber in my being," Hercules says.  
  
"What are you going as then, Mulligan?" Lafayette asks, putting their hands on their hips.  
  
Hercules holds up a Mickey Mouse costume. "Me and Peggy are going as Mickey and Minnie and we are going to slay the costume game," he says. Lafayette mutters something that sounds incredibly like 'as if' and goes back into the dressing room to change.  
  
John, Alex, and Eliza all keep searching for costumes, desperately trying to find something to spare them having to drive all the way here again.  
  
John finds the most generic fireman costume he can find. Angelica tries to get him to buy anything else, but he worms his way out of being convinced and buys it without even trying it on.  
  
Alexander and Eliza both decide to go as George and Martha Washington. When Alex finds the costumes he laughs at his own joke because of his parents. Eliza smiles at him and agrees, and they both buy the costumes immediately.  
  
When they get home and Eliza gets the text message from Maria telling her about how much fun she had with James, Eliza is almost happy enough about getting her costume not to cry about it.  
  
Almost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just feel like you all should know that every time they get in a car I draw a color coded diagram in ms paint to visualize it


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!TRIGGER WARNING!!
> 
> james reynolds like yells at Maria and calls her a slur so like,,,just watch out

The rain poured outside, the sound of it rushing down the drainpipe audible from where most of them are sitting inside the Schuyler house.  
  
The nine of them were supposed to be on their way to a hayride by now, but then the storm had hit, causing them to postpone their plans for another day. Maria had again backed out of this event to be with James, and they truly didn't understand how someone could handle being around him for more than five minutes without wanting to strangle him.  
  
They're all sitting in a different room in the Schuyler house doing their homework and drinking hot chocolate when the doorbell starts ringing frantically.  
  
"I'll get it!" Eliza says, getting up to answer the door.  
  
Maria is standing on the front porch. She's soaking wet and her eyes are bloodshot. There's a scrape on her leg that's bleeding and sobs are racking her body.  
  
"What happened?" Eliza asks her, mortified.  
  
"Can I come in?" Eliza nods, moving to let Maria inside.  
  
"What's going on?" Angelica asks, going to where the two of them still are. She stops when she sees Maria.  
  
"I'll go get towels," Angelica says, walking off to the bathroom.  
  
Eliza guides Maria past the others silently, leading her to the kitchen.  
  
"Sit on the counter," Eliza instructs. Maria does it, almost slipping off of it.  
  
Eliza gets the first aid kit from a cabinet, going over to Maria and opening it. She pauses before she does anything, going to wash her hands. Maria smiles softly at her.  
Angelica comes into the kitchen and hands Maria a towel, setting two others down next to her on the counter. She goes to the fridge and takes out the milk, putting it in a saucepan and setting it on the stove. Angelica leaves the room, trusting Eliza to know how to make hot chocolate.  
  
Eliza returns to Maria with her newly cleaned hands. She takes a gauze from the kit and presses it against Maria's leg. Maria hisses at the pain.  
  
"Sorry," Eliza apologizes, but she doesn't let up on the amount of pressure she's applying.  
  
"It's fine. I can handle it," Maria says. She's on the verge of tears from the pain but she knows Eliza is only trying to help her. Eliza is always trying to help her.  
  
Eliza holds the gauze on her leg for a few minutes longer before she takes it off. There's not that much blood on it, but Eliza still gasps when she sees it.  
  
"I'm sorry for intruding on your night," Maria says as Eliza pours peroxide into a cloth.  
  
"I'd rather be with you than do environmental science worksheets any day," Eliza tells her. She leans down, resting one hand on the other side of Maria's legs for balance, and dabs the cloth on the scrape. Maria yelps, grabbing onto Eliza's arm and squeezing.  
  
"You okay?" Eliza asks, hovering the cloth over Maria's leg. Maria nods, swallowing. She's breathing steadily through her nose, trying to ignore the sting.  
  
Eliza is done in no time, but for Maria it feels like forever. She wraps a bandage around her leg, securing it. Maria hops down from the counter and immediately hugs Eliza as tight as she can.  
  
"Thank you," she whispers. Eliza hugs back subconsciously, her mind not registering what is happening.  
  
"I'll always be here for you. I want you to know that," Eliza tells her.  
  
"I know," Maria says back. Eliza breaks the hug to get a packet of hot chocolate powder from the box next to the stove. She quickly stirs it into the milk. She gets Maria a mug and puts a Hershey Kiss in the bottom of it, pouring in the hot chocolate.  She hands the mug to Maria, who grins at Eliza as she takes it.  
  
The rest of them had all abandoned their homework after Maria had come in. They all stand up when Maria walks in.  
  
"I'm fine," she tells them. They all nod, but they don't look calmed down in the slightest.  
  
Maria doesn't tell them anything until later, when all of the hot chocolate has been downed and they're all cuddled together on the pull out couch quintet. All ten of them are squished onto two of the couches, Maria lying between Eliza and Peggy. She's holding onto Eliza's waist, snuggled into her shoulder.  
  
"I tried to break up with him," Maria whispers.  
  
"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," Eliza whispers back.  
  
"I want to," Maria says and Eliza nods, letting her continue.  
  
"He got really mad and started screaming at me. H-he called me a whore and I got scared so I ran from him but he grabbed me by the arm so I couldn't. When I finally got away he threw a vase at me but he missed and it shattered. When I got out of his house I slipped and fell on the driveway and scraped my leg. I walked here from there," she tells them. She's crying all over again, holding Eliza tighter.  
  
"We're here for you," Alex tells her from where he's lying behind Eliza. Maria smiles at him.  
  
"I am going to kill him," Angelica decides aloud from behind Peggy.  
  
"Make sure you don't get caught," Maria says back, looking behind her. She can vaguely see Angelica making finger guns at her.  
  
They all fall asleep for hours after that, waking up close to midnight. John drives Hercules, Alex, Adrienne, and Martha home, telling each of them goodnight as they get out of the car.  
  
The next day at school, James Reynolds is standing at a desk across the room talking to another boy about how him and Maria were over. Angelica walks past him as he speaks, and she doesn't miss the way that James says that Maria will be on another guy by tomorrow. She stops completely when he says that dating Maria was a waste because they never even fucked.  
  
"Angelica, what's wrong?" Eliza asks. Angelica doesn't answer, the gears in her brain turning on overdrive.  
  
Angelica tosses her books carelessly onto her desk, all of them sliding until they hit the chair. She strides over to James Reynolds, standing behind him and poking him on the shoulder. He stops talking to the other boy to turn to Angelica and ask what she wants.  
  
Then Angelica punches him in the face so hard that he's knocked out cold.  
  
The room is dead silent, the crack of James' jaw being enough to distinguish their noise. Even their teacher is slack jawed at it, staring at Angelica's hand still curled in a fist.

  
Maria starts laughing, smile beaming. The eight of them all join in, but the rest of the class is still dead silent. All of them seemed to be frozen still except for Dolley, who staring at Angelica and fanning herself. Angelica stops laughing to wink at he, delighted when Dolley smirks back.  
  
"Callender, take Mr. Reynolds to the nurse. Miss Schuyler, come with me," their teacher says, dragging Angelica out of the room and down to the principals office.  
  
The room erupts into chaos, everyone talking to each other about what just happened. The boy James was talking to is kneeling next to him on the ground now, trying to wake him, but to no avail. He slings James' arms around his shoulders and lifts him, struggling to carry him down the hall.  
  
The class is once again at a standstill when their teacher comes back with Angelica. Angelica walks to her desk and collects her books.  
  
"I'm suspended for two days," she informs them.  
  
"You didn't have to do that for me, Angelica," Maria says.  
  
"You're worth it," Angelica responds, turning and walking out of the room to get her things and wait in the office for her dad to come pick her up.  
  
When James wakes up, his jaw aches. He screams when it pops into place. He doesn't remember getting punched or passing out, but everybody else does. They all tell him about it when he gets back to class, and he knows that he will never live this down for as long as he lives.  
  
Angelica considers that a victory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHHAHAHH


	9. Chapter 9

Alex and Hercules are in Alex's living room, playing Wii Sports as they have nothing else to do.  
  
"Wasn't John supposed to be here?" Hercules asks.  
  
"Yeah, but he's being forced to go to dinner with his family and Martha for his birthday," ALex says with an amazing amount of bitterness as he swings his Wii remote and serves the tennis ball to Hercules' Mii.  
  
"Alex, do you like John?" Hercules asks, hitting the tennis ball back to Alex.  
  
"Of course I do. We're friends." Alex hits the ball back. He's using much more force than Hercules is, causing him to sweat a lot more.  
  
"No, I mean, do you have a crush on John?" Hercules asks, hitting the tennis ball back to Alex's Mii. Alex dives for it both on the screen and literally, but misses the ball and collapses on his couch.  
  
"Kind of? I do have a crush on him, but it's not only him," Alex responds, struggling to find the words to explain.  
  
"So you're polyamorous?"  
  
Alex jumps. "Yes! I'm polyamorous, and I like more people than just John," he trails off, stopping before he gives too much away.  
  
Hercules hears it anyway, not knowing what comes over him when he asks, "Am I one of the other people you like?"  
  
Alex freezes, his whole body stalled.  
  
"Why do you want to know?" Alex questions carefully.  
  
"Because your feelings might be reciprocated?"  
  
"I like you, Hercules," Alex says, standing up so that they standing chest to chest.  
  
"What are we going to do about it?" Hercules asks, looking down at Alex. There's a moment of silence.  
  
"Wanna play Mariokart?" Alex asks.  
  
"I call Waluigi!" Hercules screams, scrambling over Alex to get the disk.  
  
\---  
John and Martha are in the backseat of the car that his father rented. John is wearing a suit that he hasn't worn in a year. He knows his father will get mad at him for not wearing the specially tailored suit that he had gotten made for John for this dinner, but John is past the point of caring.  
  
The whole car ride is spent in silence, both of them not wanting to have a conversation when the driver can hear everything they say.  
  
John opens the door for Martha when they get there, taking her hand as they walk across the street to the restaurant.  
  
The restaurant isn't one that John would ever choose. It's a type of restaurant that just screams wealth no matter how you look at it and John hates it. There are ornate carvings in the outside walls of it, every window painted with intricate golden designs it its borders. The people inside are dressed to kill. John knows some of them as being friends of his father, but that doesn't comfort him in any way.  
  
"This is where we're eating?" Martha asks, staring at the building as they walk closer to it.  
  
"I hate this restaurant," John tells her instead of answering the question. He opens the door, Martha stepping ahead of him.  
  
The familiar scent of wine and pretention hits John's nose, and he instantly wants to turn around and leave. He knows that Martha smells it to, because her nose scrunches up in disgust.  
  
"I think I'm going to be sick," she says.  
  
"You get used to it," John says.  
  
A waiter shows them to the table. His father, sister, and brother all look up when he arrives.  
  
"Jack!" His father exclaims, standing up to clap him on the back.  
  
"Hello, father," John greets back, incredibly tense.  
  
"What happened to the suit I had made for you this year?"  
  
"Dad, please."  
  
"We'll talk about this later, Jack," Henry promises. John nods tensely. His dad directs his attention to Martha, who is holding onto John's hand as tight as she can.  
  
"This must be Martha! Pleasure to meet you," he says, shaking Martha's hand. Martha grins at him, shaking his hand back.  
  
"Where are James and Mary?" John asks his father, referring to his two youngest siblings who aren't sitting at the table.  
  
"I decided that they aren't mature enough for this restaurant, so they're staying home with the housekeeper tonight," his father explains. John doesn't say how they could've not gone here so John could be with all of his siblings, but he does think it for most of the night.  
  
Martha holds his hand under the table for most of the night, obviously ignoring the fact that John's palms are sweating so much that they could fill a pool.  
  
When they order their food, John notices that Martha orders one of the least expensive things on the menu. He doesn't mention it, not wanting to embarrass her. He orders one of the smallest things on the menu, knowing that he won't be able to eat much as he feels sick to his stomach.  
  
His father pays the check when they're all done eating. John and Martha get into a different car than his father and siblings, just like when they leave.  
  
"Dad, can I go to my friend's house?" John asks. He's hoping that his father will say yes as John hasn't spoken out of turn the whole night. Henry's eyes darts in between John and Martha, and he seems to reading in between the lines of John's one line question. His father smirks at him, and John wants to worm into the earth and never come out.  
  
"Be home by midnight," he winks, "and use protection."  
  
His father gets in the car then, so he can't see how John turns a bright red that spreads up into his ears and goes all the way down his neck and beyond his collar.  
  
"Does he know that we've only been dating for two months?" Martha questions as his car drives away.  
  
"I don't think he cares."  
  
The car drops Martha off at her house, and John waves goodbye to her as she walks in her front door. He tells the driver to let him off at Alex's house, which he does. He walks up onto his porch and knocks on the door as hard as he can.  
  
When Alex finally opens the door, it would take an idiot to not understand what was going on before John had shown up.  
  
Alex is panting. His hair is sticking up everywhere and his lips are bright red. Hercules is lying on the floor, breathing just as heavily. John is staring at his hair, not even caring that he just missed what Alex just said to him.  
  
"Sorry, I just noticed how tired I was as soon as I knocked so I'm just going to go home," John says, turning around to go back to the car that's still waiting for him.  
  
"You should stay! We were just playing Mariokart," Alex says. John almost laughs. He doesn't deny that they had been playing at some point during the night, but they certainly hadn't been when John had knocked. Unless Mariokart had a new feature that included making out on the floor. If that was the case John would play it more.  
  
"No, it's fine, I'm just going to go home," John tells him. He doesn't let Alex argue further, instead he crosses the street as fast he can and gets in the car.  
  
He doesn't know why he starts crying, but he does. He pays the driver twenty dollars to not tell his father about this, which the driver takes with a curt nod.  
  
"You're home early," his father says when John walks through the front door. John just makes a noise to agree with him and then goes up to his room.  
  
He goes to bed quicker than he ever has, not wanting to deal with this day any more than he has to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hHAHA ALEX AND HERCULES ARE DATING NOW!! 2/4 OF THE OT4 C O M PL E TE 
> 
> I also don't know how to write fathers I just????? idk henry laurens isn't a good person in case that wasn't already clear


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning, something is off and everybody knows it. Hercules and Alex texted John in the group chat this morning telling him that they didn't need rides to school for the first time this year because Hercules was driving, setting off the list of weird things.   
  
The whole time in homeroom, Hercules and Alex were practically hanging off of each other. Everyone in their friend group is close, they all have the kind of relationship with one another that allows them to act slightly more than platonic sometimes. It's just that none of them really look like they're about two seconds away from wanting to jump each other's bones if there weren't so many witnesses.   
  
At lunch, John doesn't stop glaring at them once. He's sure that Martha has asked him if he's okay at least four times but he hasn't answered once. Alex and Hercules are sitting closer together than usual, thighs touching under the lunch table. All of them have gotten used to whatever they have going on now, adapting to this surprisingly quickly. John can't believe them.  
  
When the final bell rang at the end of the day, Hercules and Alex are in Hercules' car and speeding out of the parking lot before any of them can even say goodbye.   
  
"What's going on with them?" Maria asks. They all shrug.  
  
"No idea," John lies, climbing into the backseat of Lafayette's car.   
  
As they drive out of the parking lot, Lafayette takes Adrienne's hand in theirs casually. John, now hyperaware of everything that happens in the friend group, doesn't miss it, and finds the same anger flaring inside his chest.   
  
"Are you two dating now, too?" John asks resentfully. Martha is looking out of her window, not even trying to console John. John understands why, he's been a dick all day, but he's just so angry. He's not even sure why.   
  
"For the millionth time, John, no. We are French, showing affection is what we do. What is wrong with you today?" Lafayette asks, glancing back at John in the rearview mirror.   
  
"Alex and Hercules are dating," John tells them, his voice as monotonous as it could possibly be.  
  
Lafayette drops Adrienne's hand and takes hold of the steering wheel.  They hold the wheel so tight that their knuckles are white, and then the car is moving much faster than it was previously. They're very obviously speeding, and Lafayette very obviously knows, but it doesn't stop them. They slam on the brakes as they stop in front of Martha's house, everyone jolting forward.   
  
"Thanks for the ride, Lafayette," she whispers to them, slightly afraid as she gets out of the car. Lafayette doesn't say anything, and they drive away before Martha gets to her door. John acts like he doesn't care, but in reality he's worried and doesn't know what to do.  
  
Lafayette is at John's house in record time. John gets out, muttering a thanks before he slams the door closed and walks away. Lafayette sighs when he's gone. They pull away from his house and turn a corner before stopping the car again. They rest their head on the steering wheel, finally allowing themselves to cry.  
  
"This isn't happening. It can't be," they say, throat tight. Adrienne rubs Lafayette's shoulder comfortingly.   
  
"Are you okay, mon amour?" she asks, knowing the answer already but feeling the need to ask anyway.   
  
"No, I'm not." Lafayette mumbles into the steering wheel.  
  
"Can we just go home?" they ask, staring into Adrienne's eyes, pleading with her.  
  
Adrienne nods. "I'll call my dad and tell him. Let's go."   
  
Lafayette wipes their tears off on their jacket sleeve. Sniffling, they drive to the Schuyler house. Lafayette parks their car and gets out, entering the house wordlessly. Adrienne follows behind them, announcing their presence as she gets to the door.  
  
Lafayette skulks past Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy and goes straight to their room. Adrienne stays with the sisters, flinching as Lafayette slams their bedroom door closed so forcefully that it could cause a draft.  
   
"Are they okay?" Eliza asks, neck craning to look down the hall at their bedroom door.   
  
"Alex and Hercules are dating," Adrienne explains quietly so that Lafayette won't be able to hear. The four of them all look at each other before leaving whatever they were doing to go be with Lafayette.   
  
Lafayette falls asleep squished in between them, knowing that if nobody else loves them, they do.  
  
Lafayette can live with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!this chapter is so short sorry!!


	11. Chapter 11

They all show up about a half an hour after the party was said to start, but even then it's packed. The front lawn is packed with people that couldn't fit inside the capacity of the house, all of which are dancing to the music that is shaking the ground with its volume.   
  
The ten of them forcibly stuff themselves inside of the house, weaving their way through the crowds of people. Maria, dressed now as Daniel Parke Custis, walks arm in arm with Eliza, who is also walking arm in arm with Alex. The three of them walk ahead of the rest of them, stopping when they hit a velvet rope. Alex breaks into a full on cackle when he sees the situation.   
  
Madison is lying on fancy couch with Jefferson straddling him. They were definitely making out, but with the amount of grinding they were doing in addition, they were basically having sex clothed. Dolley, who is also wearing a queen costume like Angelica, is sitting on the other side of the space, reading a book like she doesn't notice the two of them. Martha just isn't fucking there.  
  
"Dolley!" Angelica calls once she's shuffled up next to Alex, Maria, and Eliza. Dolley looks up from her book and smiles. She sets the book down on a table next to her and walks up to them. She unhooks the rope and lets them all in. They all pass through, except for Angelica. Dolley grabs Angelica by the arm, stopping her from going in.   
  
"Come with me," she whispers. Angelica's eyes widen. Dolley leaves the enclosure, enchaining the rope behind her and taking Angelica's hand.   
  
"Angelica is gettin' it tonight!" John yells, clapping as they disappear into the crowd. The rest of them laugh, Hercules whistling when he can catch his breath. Jefferson stops kissing Madison for a second. Madison rests his hands on Jefferson's hips and watches as Thomas wipes his mouth and looks at all of them.   
  
"When did you all get here?" He asks, looking at all of them.  
  
"No," Alex says. Thomas narrows his eyes but shrugs anyways and goes back to kissing Madison.   
  
Once they find a space to squeeze all nine of themselves into, they're on the dance floor. Only Lafayette, Hercules, and Adrienne can actually dance, but damn if the rest of them don't try. John and Martha are dancing with each other, dancing enthusiastically.   
  
Adrienne spends half of the night doing ballet routines to fast paced music and generally slaying everyone there. Her fairy costume shines in the lights, twirling and spinning like a vision. Lafayette is dancing with her, but not as precise. They did take ballet when they were younger, but they had stopped when they came to America.   
  
Hercules and Alex are completely floored. They know that they look like idiots by just standing still gawking at them, but they can't stop. It's like they're in a trance, like nothing is clear but them.   
  
"Come on, you two!" Lafayette screams, grabbing them both by the hands and pulling them into a circle. Hercules continues dancing in his way, Adrienne and Lafayette following his lead and continuing in theirs. Alex, who is shit at dancing, just stands there, not willing to embarrass himself in front of his boyfriend and friends.  
  
At one point in the night, Alex gets knocked over by Jacques, dressed at Captain Jack Sparrow, angrily marching out of the party. When Alex gets up, he follows Jacques' path and gasps.   
  
Theodosia and Burr are dancing together. Theodosia is dressed as Elizabeth Swann, Burr like Will Turner. Burr looks happier than Alex has ever seen him, spinning around with Theo to the beat of the song playing. Theodosia stops their dancing to kiss him, and that's when Alex looks away.   
  
The night goes on until it's no longer night. Mostly everyone is gone by four in the morning, but they aren't.   
  
Hercules, Eliza, Peggy, Martha and John are mostly asleep, all of them leaning against each other on the couches in the velvet roped area. They're trying not to look at Madison and Jefferson, who are now asleep, lying next to each other on the couch.  
  
Alex, Maria, Lafayette, and Adrienne are all still very awake somehow. They're all just jumping around in a circle holding hands, singing along to the songs that are still playing. The five of them that are almost asleep watch through half shut eyes at the four of them.   
  
"You guys are still awake?" Angelica asks. She standing at the balcony in the hallway, overlooking the whole room. Her dress is ripped on the sleeve and she's wearing Dolley's crown, but she doesn't look like she cares.   
  
"Barely," Hercules responds, the sleepiness evident in his voice.   
  
"We have to go now, though. I promised mom and dad that we'd be back by sunset which is rapidly approaching so let's go!" Angelica rushes down the stairs.   
  
Angelica pulls Hercules, Eliza, Peggy, Martha, and John to their feet. She pulls Hercules, who grabs Eliza's hand. Eliza grabs Peggy, Peggy grabs Martha, and Martha grabs John, all of them being pulled by Angelica. Angelica breaks up their circle, grabbing the first hand she can. Taking Maria's hand, the circle unravels and forms a chain of its own. Angelica runs these two chains outside to their cars, unlocking her own.   
  
Once Eliza, Peggy, Lafayette, and Maria were all in her car, Angelica got in and started the car. They were driving from the party when Eliza nudges her.   
  
"So, you and Dolley Payne, huh?" she mumbles in her sleep. Angelica laughs, taking one hand off of the steering wheel to push Eliza.   
  
Meanwhile in the other car, Alex was driving Hercules' car to John's house. Hercules was asleep in the passenger seat, snoring. Alex took his eyes off of the road at the red light to stare at him, a fondness he wasn't exactly ready for filling his chest as he looks at him. Alex only stops when the green light illuminates his features and he keeps driving.   
  
Martha is asleep on John's shoulder, her hand resting loosely on his thigh. John can't focus on anything else other than her hand, struggling not to squirm away from it.   
  
"I saw you and Martha getting down on the dance floor, John. Looked like you were getting pretty saucy," Alex remarks, wiggling his eyebrows. John feels the anger flare in his chest, spreading throughout his entire body until all he can feel is the heat of it.   
  
"Yeah, because we're dating. Maybe I shouldn't say that though, because you and Hercules didn't look that saucy considering," John snaps. At the mention of him and Hercules, Alex swerves the car, almost crashing into the cemetery. Adrienne, who had been quietly drifting off, was now fully awake. Martha and Hercules' eyes snap open in unison.   
  
"We were going to tell you, John," Alex says, voice tense.   
  
"Like hell you were," John spits.   
  
"What is your problem?" Alex yells.   
  
"Nothing! I don't have a problem! I just don't like being lied to by my friends!"   
  
"We weren't lying to you! We've been dating for four days!"   
  
"Whatever," John mumbles. He huffs and crosses his arms, wanting nothing more than to be dropped off at his house already.   
  
Alex stops the car to let John out at his house. John can see the tears glistening on Alex's face in the illumination of the car's headlights. He wants to apologize, but he doesn't. Too proud to do anything, John slams his car door shut and walks away into his house.   
  
He watches from the living room window in his house as Alex wipes the tears off of his face and Hercules takes his hand. Alex drives away from John's house to drop Adrienne off, and John closes the curtains to go to bed.   
  
"I'm sorry, you guys. We really did plan to tell you," Alex says to Martha and Adrienne.   
  
"John already told us before. Lafayette knows too and they're not mad, if that helps," Adrienne tells the two of them. Alex and Hercules look at each other as if they're saying something without saying it. Alex nods.   
  
"Yeah, that helps. Thanks Adrienne," Alex tells her. He pulls up to the Schuyler house. Adrienne thanks them for the ride and gets out, leaving only Alexander, Hercules, and Martha in the car.   
  
"John never told me that you were dating, but I'm happy for you anyway," Martha says.   
  
"Thanks, Martha. Can you do us a favor and talk to him for us?" Alex asks. Martha nods before realizing that they can't see her.  
  
"Yeah, sure. Can I be honest with you guys, though?" Marths asks. Alex and Hercules nod.   
  
"Sometimes, I feel like John doesn't like me, you know? Like, he's always shying away from me. We've been dating for two months and we haven't even kissed yet. I don't know, I just feel like he hates me sometimes," she admits. Alex and Hercules look at each other again.  
  
"I'm sure John likes you. He's just not good with expressing his feelings pretty much ever," Hercules tells her. She nods, not saying another word until she says goodbye when they drop her off.   
  
John goes to sleep that night bitter and alone, still mad at Alex and Hercules.   
  
Alex and Hercules go to bed together, hoping that John gets over whatever he's actually mad about, because they all know it wasn't the fact that they didn't tell him about the fact that they've been dating for four days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> theo is taller than burr in my mind I'm just??
> 
> aLso just bc I need to say Jacques is Captain Jack Sparrow. CAPTAIN JACQUES. (it's the only reason that he's dressed as him I'm just???)


	12. Chapter 12

John skips school that Monday.   
  
He knows that he shouldn't have. That it would've been easier to apologize to Hercules and Alex on Monday and then go back to school so that they could all be friends again. John hadn't done that, though, so here he was.   
  
He had spent all day crying and eating chocolate chip cookies in his bed. He has at least six mugs of hot chocolate littered around his room, not having the willpower to reuse them. He's been lying cookie crumbs consistently for the past six hours but he can't find it in him to do anything about them.  
  
Shortly after he wakes up for the fourth time that day, his house alarm goes off. Almost as soon as it goes off, it stops again. John can hear two sets of feet running up his staircase. He lies as still as they reach his room, hoping that if he doesn't make any noise that they won't kill him. His doorknob turns, and the door swings open to reveal Lafayette and Adrienne standing in the doorframe.   
  
"Okay so yes, we kind of broke into your house, but we couldn't just wait outside when you're inside being sad," Adrienne tells him. John laughs for the first time that day. He sits up in his bed, looking at them.   
  
"I'm going to clean this mess up, you talk to him," Lafayette says, gathering four of the mugs John has in his room and leaving.   
  
Adrienne and John watch Lafayette leave, waiting until they're down the stairs. Adrienne turns to John, walking closer to John.   
  
"Are you okay?" She asks. John had been expecting the question. There was no way that someone wasn't going to ask him after he had not gone to school because he got into a fight with his best friends. He'd been waiting for that question, and yet he still cries when he is asked it.  
  
"No, I'm not. I'm so fucking mad, and I-I don't even know why. At first I thought it was because Hercules and Alex didn't tell me they were dating, but that's not it because I know they would've told me. I don't understand this, Adrienne," John says, tears pouring down his face.   
  
Now, Adrienne knows it's because John is Probably Gay. Lafayette, who is not even in the room at present, knows it's because John is Probably Gay. But because John doesn't know, Adrienne does what she can do.   
  
She comforts him.   
  
She crawls into bed next to John, ignores all of the cookie crumbs, and pulls him into her arms. For a second she thinks she's done something wrong, John crying harder than before. She's about to stand up when John curls into her side, clinging to her like she's all he has. Adrienne runs her hands through his hair, holding onto John. His tears soak into Adrienne's shirt, but she can't care about that now.   
  
When Lafayette comes back, they don't say anything. They climb into bed next to John, taking him slightly away from Adrienne's arms so that John can lay in between them.   
They stay there like that for hours, not really saying anything. When John finally decides to move, it's not willingly.   
  
He's still in Adrienne and Lafayette's arms. He grabs his phone from his bedside table to check if anyone else had checked on in him, which they have, but that's not what he sees. He coughs when he sees the time. Adrienne and Lafayette immediately react, trying to calm him down.   
  
"You need to leave," John says, jumping out of his bed and onto the floor.   
  
"What?" Adrienne and Lafayette ask at the same time, both of them very confused and now very anxious.  
  
"My dad is going to be home soon and if he find out I had two people over when I'm supposed to be sick, he's going to be pissed" John explains. He ushers them down the stairs and out of the house, watching as Lafayette's car pulls out of his driveway and goes in the direction of their house.    
  
John goes back to his room and cleans out the rest of the mugs, washing them in his sink despite their dishwasher being right next to him. He's setting the last mug on the drying rack when his father opens the door.   
  
"How are you feeling, Jack?" His father asks as he walks in the door. John smiles.   
  
"A lot better," He responds.  
  
He smiles, knowing he's not lying when he says it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS! IS! SO! SHORT! !!!!FUCK!!!!


	13. Chapter 13

On Tuesday, John skipped school again.  
  
He knows that he probably shouldn't have driven the knife deeper than he'd already stabbed it, but he couldn't stop himself from taking the opportunity.   
  
That morning he convinces his dad that he was sick for the second day in a row, granting him the permission to stay home for one more day. John waits until his father finally leaves his room. Now all he has to do is wait.   
  
He watches from his bedroom window twenty minutes later as his father's car leaves the garage, backing out of the driveway and continuing down the street.  
  
John had considered going to Alex's house immediately, but then he thought it'd be weird just sitting in Alex's house for five hours while he wasn't there. He's not even sure if anyone was home. He knew from what Alex had told him that Martha does a lot of her work from their house, but he didn't know if that's what was happening today. He didn't even know if Martha would let them in if it was.   
  
Half an hour before Alex gets home from school, he thinks he's ready. He had spent all day rehearsing his apology to Alex and Hercules, running it through his head over and over until he could probably recite it in his sleep. He drives over to Alex's house, knocking on the front door until Martha answered. John had explained to her the situation with him, Hercules, and her son, thanking her over and over again when she agreed to help with his plan and led him up to Alex's room.   
  
John hadn't exactly noticed until now, but he had never actually been in Alex's room before.   
  
Alex's room is cleaner than he thought it'd be, the only thing being messy was his bed, which wasn't made. John doesn't fail to notice that the comforter was turned up on either side from the two people that had slept in it. John only feels slightly bitter.   
  
John doesn't care about the bed as much as he cares about a bulletin board hanging on the wall. There are tons of pictures pinned to it to the point where Alex started to run out of space and taped them to the wall around it. John can tell that some of them were taken on a phone and then printed out, but his heart is currently melting so he doesn't give it more than a dismissing thought.   
  
All of the pictures were of them. Alex was in most of them, but there were some on the board that Alex took himself and wasn't a part of. John studies the board, trying to remember every detail of it. He puts distance in between him and the board, like he's viewing it in a museum and he's not allowed to touch it. He reaches out to look at one photo closer, and the door swings open. John jumps back from the board.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Alex asks. John backs away from the bulletin board, turning to him.   
  
The sound of Alex's voice is enough to make John forget his entire speech, which John had tried to ensure wouldn't happen.   
  
"I wanted to say that I'm sorry. Obviously you and Hercules were going to tell me that you were dating, if I had only given you the time, but I didn't and I feel really bad about that. I shouldn't have screamed at you like that in the car and I'm sorry that I made you cry," John apologizes. Alex looks at him confused. John shouldn't have known that Alex cried over him that night, but he did. Alex didn't want to know how.   
  
"I forgive you, John, but I'm not the only one you need to apologize to," Alex tells him, and John nods.   
  
"No, I know. I just kind of thought Hercules would be with you," John says, shrugging. Alex shrugs too, finding it reasonable that John would think that.  
  
"I'll go with you to his house if you want me to."  
  
"Please."   
  
At Hercules' house, John and Alex are sitting next to each other on their couch. Hercules' mother had insisted they sit down, offering them a list of drinks so extensive that John can't even remember them all. She's still listing them when Alex politely interrupts her.  
  
"Sarah, we're just here to see Hercules, if you don't mind," Alex says, and Sarah stops listing.  
  
"Oh, he's in his room. You know where it is," she tells them, waving in the direction of it.  
  
"How are you on a first name basis with Hercules' mom?" John asks quietly as they walk down the hallway to Hercules' room. He's known Hercules for most of his life, and he's still afraid to call his mom anything other than 'ma'am'.  
  
"I'm dating her son, John. Given she doesn't know about that, though, I assume it's because I'm here a lot and she likes me," Alex responds. John wonders if that means Hercules' mom doesn't like him.  
  
Hercules jumps when they open the door. His eyes light up when he sees Alex, but then they dim again when they see John.   
  
"What is he doing here?" Hercules asks. He doesn't sound mad, but John couldn't blame him if he was.   
  
"I'm here to apologize," John answers him, and Hercules sits up on his bed.  
  
"I'm listening."  
  
"I'm sorry that I yelled at you. I knew you were going to tell me that you and Alex were dating eventually. I'm also really sorry that I told all of our friends about it before you got the chance to. I'm just really sorry."   
  
Hercules is silent for a long time, just staring at John. Alex clear his throat, and Hercules snaps out of it.   
  
"I accept your apology," Hercules tells him. Alex and John both smile at him. Alex bounces on his feet before pulling Hercules onto his feet. He drags them both into a group hug, holding them close. He can feel two arms around his waist, one being significantly smaller than the other, and if only Lafayette was here to make this perfect.   
  
John hangs around them for a while, but then he leaves, explaining that his dad will kill him if he's not home when he gets there. Alex and Hercules says goodbye to him, watching as he exits the room and walks down the hall. They can hear him say bye to Hercules' mom and walk out of the door, leaving Hercules and Alex alone in his room.   
  
"Alex," Hercules says cautiously.   
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"You're aware that we're fucked right?" He asks.   
  
"Yeah I do have a pretty good idea," Alex replies, flopping down on Hercules' bed. He breathes in, getting ready to scream when Hercules' door opens.   
  
"Alex, would you like to stay for dinner?" Sarah asks him, peeking in the room.   
  
"Sure," Alex tells her, his scream effectively shut down.

"Alright, I'll call your mother," she says, smiling at him as she closes the door.   
  
Alex and Hercules look at each other, and then they burst out laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I THOUGHT I HAD WORK TODAY AND THEN I HAD THE WEEKEND OFF BUT TURNS OUT I HAVE TODAY OFF AND I HAVE TO WORK THE WEEKEND HAHAHAHAHAHAHH K I L L M E


	14. Chapter 14

It was the day before Thanksgiving, and they were all at the Schuyler house for Friendsgiving.  
  
It had been Peggy's idea, her sunshine personality shining through when she had pitched it. She was jumping around explaining it to them, trying to list all of her ideas for it in the time given, which wasn't limited but she was talking like she was. They had all agreed, willing to attempt the idea if it meant they could spend time with each other over the break.  
  
They're eating the food that each of them brought in the dining room when Eliza stands up and clinks a fork against her glass gently.  
  
"I think we should all say what we're thankful for," she tells them.  
  
"I'm for it," Lafayette says, leaning back on their chair. The rest of them agree and Eliza nods.  
  
"Angelica, as the head of the table, you can go first," Eliza says, nodding to her. Angelica could argue that Eliza was also sitting at the head of the table, but she doesn't. Instead she glowers at her and stands up, he wine glass full of apple cider in hand.  
  
"I am thankful for my family, my friends, my life," she pauses and smirks, "and Dolley Payne's mouth." She toasts to it, downing the rest of the cider.  
  
"Angelica!" Eliza scolds, and Angelica laughs, almost choking on her drink. She keeps laughing, falling back into her chair, knees buckling.  
  
"Peggy, go," Angelica wheezes out, still laughing. Peggy, still concerned, slowly stands up. She stands there as Angelica starts coughing, calming down once she stops.  
  
"I'm thankful for my sisters, all of you guys, my possessions, the fact that I was blessed as being the sun incarnate, and everything I've forgotten," she says. The whole table rings out in a chorus of 'aww' and her name said in different tones of endearment. She smiles, giggling, and sits down in her chair.  
  
"I'm thankful for my life, my health, Martha and George, all of you, this food because it slays, America in semi-general, looking at you Trump for the semi part, and definitely the fact that you guys took me in when you didn't have to," Alex says when he stands. He's choked up by the end of the short speech, tears stinging his eyes.  
  
"We love you, Alex," Eliza tells him. He smiles at her as he sits down. Hercules puts an arm around Alex, kissing the side of his head before he stands up himself.  
  
"I'm glad to have my friends, the love I've been given," Hercules stops when Lafayette wolf whistles at him and Alex and Angelica pounds on the table repeatedly. Hercules rolls his eyes and laughs.  
  
"I'm thankful for Alex, the food, my parents, and the fact that I'm somehow passing Calculus," he continues. He mimics Angelica as he downs the rest of his drink and sits down. Alex kisses him on the cheek, causing Lafayette to whistle again. Both Alex and Hercules flip him off. Lafayette put their hands up, surrendering.  
  
"Maria, your turn," Eliza tells her. Maria stands up, smiling.  
  
"I'm thankful for my friends, Eliza especially, the food, and also Angelica especially for punching James Reynolds in the face when I couldn't," Maria says. Angelica makes finger guns at her, making a clicking sound with her mouth. Maria nods, doing the same motion back and sits down.  
  
"There's a lot of food loving going on here," John remarks.  
  
"It's really good food," Alex says, stabbing a piece of breaded cauliflower with his fork and popping it into his mouth.  
  
"Yeah, that's true," John agrees, picking up his fork and shoveling mashed potatoes in his mouth.  
  
Eliza, now blushing, stands up. "I'm thankful for my friends, Maria definitely, my sisters, my friends, and, of course, this food," Eliza says, and sits down quickly. Maria smiles at her, kicking her gently under the table. Eliza laughs, elbowing her playfully.  
  
Adrienne, in all her sparkling glory, stands up with her glass.  
  
"I'm thankful for my health, my dear Lafayette, the rest of you, and France," she says. She's trying to think of other things to say, but she sits down before she voices them.  
  
"I got my own shoutout," Lafayette speaks as they stand up.  
  
"Don't brag, Lafayette," Alex says, making a face at them.  
  
"All of you, epecially Adrienne, _mon coeur_ , as she lets me speak fluent French whenever I want-"  
  
"Excuse me?" Alex yells.  
  
"Are you kidding?" John asks at the same time.  
  
" _Ne la déteste parce que vous n'êtes pas son_ ," Lafayette says, raising their eyebrows and sipping out of their glass.  
  
" _Va te faire foutre_ ," Alex responds, standing so that he can slap his hands back on the table.  
  
" _Est-ce pas son travail_?" Lafayette asks, pointing to Hercules. Alex, sits down, his face burning red.  
  
" _Mon dieu_ ," Adrienne whispers.  
  
" _Vous venez de recevoir rekt_ ," John remarks, smiling.  
  
" _Ferme ta gueule_ ," Alex mumbles.  
  
"What the fuck just happened?" Angelica asks on behalf of her and everyone else that doesn't speak French at the table, eyes darting in between John, Alex, Adrienne, and Lafayette.  
  
" _Rien_ ," the four of them say quickly. Angelica is still looking between them, not at all settled.  
  
Lafayette clears their throat. "Anyway, I'm thankful for the Schuyler sisters for taking me in and allowing me to live here, the food, and the acceptance that I've gotten from you all. That's it. John, you can go."  
  
John rises from his chair, moving his hair out of his face.  
  
"I am thankful for the French language," he shoots a glare at Lafayette, "Martha, my wealth, and you guys, for being there for me and for providing me with a safe space to get away from my gross father." John drinks the rest of the soda in his glass, and sits down in his chair. Martha pats his shoulder. She gets up slowly, hands fidgeting.  
  
"I'm thankful for you guys. A lot of other things but mainly you guys. I didn't really have any friends before I started dating John and I love all of you so much. John. you're really great, by the way, before I get too choked up to tell you. I'm just really emotional about you guys?" She sits down, tears running down her face. John hugs her, rubbing her arm. She laughs through her tears, wiping them away and sitting up.  
  
Later that night, when they really should be going home for Thanksgiving the next day, they're lying in the theater room watching Harry Potter movies.  
  
"Happy Thanksgiving," Angelica says, smiling at the tired mumbling attempts at 'Happy Thanksgiving' she receives in response.


	15. Chapter 15

"We should come out," Alex suggests to Hercules on their drive home from the Schuyler's at four in the morning. Hercules almost swerves off of the road, getting both the car and himself in control before he crashes.

"What?" He asks, breathing heavily. Alex sits up further in the passenger seat.

"Well, our families don't know we're dating. We should tell them! We're going over to your house for Thanksgiving, so that's the perfect time to tell them," Alex says. Hercules pulls over on the side of the road, staring at him.

"Are you sure you want to, though?" Hercules asks, making sure that they're both on the same page before he does anything else.

"Yeah. I want my parents to know that when they talk to me about how nice the Mulligan children are that they're talking about my boyfriend," Alex tells him, fiddling with Hercules' hand.

"You're dating Hugh?" Hercules jokes at Alex's phrasing. Alex rolls his eyes and shoves him, laughing.

"I'm serious!" Alex excalims

"I'll do it," Hercules tells him.

"Really?" Alex asks, excitement coursing through his veins. Hercules nods, beaming at him.

"I want my family to know about you," Hercules says, and Alex knows what he means. He jumps in his seat.

"Oh my god, Hercules! We're gonna do it; we're gonna come out!" Alex squeals, kissing Hercules across the console.

There's a silence when they break apart. The few cars travelling at this time pass them, their headlights illuminating Alex's face where Hercules' body doesn't obscure him from it.  
  
"I love you," Hercules whispers. He clamps his mouth shut, not believing that he just said that. He's about to face forward when Alex practically jumps over the center console, kissing Hercules. He wraps his arms around Hercules' neck, kissing him as well as he can given the awkward position.

"I love you too," Alex says when they stop kissing. He presses their foreheads together, not saying anything. Alex breaks eye contact to look at the clock on the car.

"Hercules, dear?"

"Yes, Alex?"

"It's 4:30 in the morning and we're coming out to our families," Alex tells him. Hercules nods, turning away from Alex and driving again.

They walk up the entryway sluggishly, the events from the past day wearing them out. Alex walks ahead of Hercules, reaching up into the tarp covering the Mulligan's grill and taking two spare keys out from the side tray. He inspects the two of them, squinting before he finally decides. He hands one key to Hercules, who takes it. Alex walks over to his house, opening the storm door and unlocking his actual door.

"Goodnight, Hercules. I love you," Alex mumbles.

"I love you too, Alex," Hercules whispers. Alex laughs when Hercules abandons his door, stepping over to Alex. He all but picks Alex up and kisses him. Alex laughs again, allowing himself to be pressed into the door.

Eventually, Hercules puts him down and stops kissing him, going back to unlocking his door. He lets it swing open and then puts the key back, walking into his house and closing the door. Alex does the same, walking up the two staircases to his room. He collapses on his bed completely clothed and falls asleep almost immediately.

When he wakes up five hours later, he's uncomfortable and excited. Uncomfortable at the fact that he slept in jeans and excited at the fact that he's telling his family that he's dating Hercules. He changes into different clothes and runs out of his room and down the stairs.  
  
"You're excited," Martha tells him as she watches him leap off of the landing, skipping the two steps he had left.

"It's Thanksgiving," Alex says simply, partially lying.

"Last Thanksgiving you slept in until 4 PM and only came out of your room to eat. Then you went back to sleep and didn't leave your room again until you had to go back to school," Martha reminds him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I didn't have friends last Thanksgiving," he replies. It's true, nobody can deny it. There was nobody at his old school that interested Alex enough for Alex to actively try to meet people.

"Alex," Martha scolds lightly, voice sad. Alex knows that she hates it when he says that. She hates that Alex was and remains to be so casual in the fact that he was pretty much all alone in the past years in terms of friends. She hates knowing that being alone had been Alex's plan when they first moved here. Alex smiles, though. That was plan until he met Hercules. Hercules changed everything.

Alex spends the next two hours watching HGTV shows with Martha. At eleven, George calls them down to the kitchen. They go down the stairs. He hands them each a peanut butter pie out of the fridge before taking the remaining one. They leave through the kitchen and walk over the Mulligan's. George knocks on the door, smiling when Sarah opens it.

"George, Martha, Alex, come in!" she says, moving away from the door.

"Where should we put these?" Martha asks, referring to the pies that each of them are holding.

"Oh just put them on the table, we'll find somewhere to put them once we get all of the food down," Sarah tells them.

"Mom! Help!" Hercules yells from the kitchen.

"I'll be right there!" His mom calls.

"Is he okay?" Martha asks, worried.

"He's fine. He's helping me cook. Alex, could you do me a favor and go see what he needs help with?" Sarah asks.

"I don't know how to cook," Alex tells her. She shakes her head.

"I'm sure he just needs another pair of hands," she says. Alex nods, going to run up the stairs.

"Your mom told me to come and help you," Alex says as he goes into the kitchen. Hercules is standing there, oven mitts and apron on. His hands are on his hips and he looks generally distressed.

"Will you hold open the oven while I get the turkey out?" Hercules asks. Alex nods. He walks over to where the oven is, holding onto the handle.

"Aren't ovens supposed to stay open to like, avoid burning you hideously?" Alex asks, pulling the oven door open. Hercules walks over, oven mitted hands first, and puts his hands on the roasting pan.

"I don't know if you realized this, but our oven is older than my parents. That's old for an oven," Hercules tells him, pulling the turkey out and setting it on the collection of pot holders he has set up on the table. Alex stares at it, mouth watering.

"Glad to know it'll be eaten," Hercules says, looking Alex's hungry expression.

"This is the most beautiful turkey I have ever seen," Alex says, kneeling down to look at it. Hercules laughs.

"Thank you." Hercules grabs the meat thermometer from the counter and stabs it into the turkey's thigh as Alex connects the dots in his mind.

"You made this?" Alex asks, looking at it.

"Well, I had my mom stuff it because I'm not doing that, but the rest of it was all me," Hercules responds.

"Oh my god, I love you," Alex whispers, kissing him. Hercules rests his hands, still wearing the oven mitts, on Alex's waist. The floor creaks in the living room, and the two of them jump apart.

"You guys okay? You look like you've seen a ghost," Hugh Jr. says.

"We're fine," Hercules says, taking his oven mitts off and tossing them on the table.

"You're Alex, right? Hercules' boyfriend?" Hugh asks Alex, pointing to him. Hercules chokes.

"Yeah," Alex responds, voice cracking.   
  
"How did you know?" Hercules asks, throroughly shocked.  
  
"You two were literally making out when I walked in. I know you and your friends are close, Hercules, but you're not that close." Alex laughs. Hercules doesn't.

"We planned to tell you guys later. This is rude," Hercules says, huffing.

"You still have mom and dad to tell. They're gonna react way differently. Like, planning your wedding differently," Hugh remarks, grabbing a bottle of root beer from the fridge.  
  
After the turkey is brought out and they all start eating, Hugh speaks up.

"So, Hercules, how's your love life going?" he asks, trying to supress his smile.

"It's going fine, Hugh," he says through his clenched teeth.

"Really, Hercules? Are you dating someone we don't know about?" Sarah asks. Hugh wiggles his eyebrows in Hercules' direction and Hercules wants to throttle him.

"Well, yes. Kind of, I mean you know him bu-"

"He's dating me," Alex tells them. Sarah's eyes widen. She sets down her fork. Hugh Jr. snorts, his laughter silent save for the inhuman squeaking noise he was making. Sarah joins him, and then so does everyone else.

"What a way to reveal it!" Sarah says. Hercules is terrified. His mother has never talked like that in his life. He doesn't know how to handle this situation.

Their meal continues after that, and soon it's time for Alex, George and Martha to go home. The Mulligans send them home with enough food to feed them for weeks.

"Are you mad at me?" Alex asks when they're back in their kitchen putting all of the food on the fridge.

"Of course not. We just want you to be happy Alex ," Martha says, hugging him. George sets the plate of leftover turkey down on the table and joins the hug.  
  
"Will now be a good time to tell you that me and Hercules are both polyamorous and in love with two other people?" Alex asks, voice muffled against Martha's shoulder. Martha sighs.

"You really never do stop surprising us do you?" She asks.

"No."

"That's fine, it's how we know that you're still you." Alex smiles at this, and then breaks from the hug.

"I'm going to bed," he tells them, jogging up to his room.

As he changes into his pajamas, his phone goes off repeatedly.

**hercules <3**: my mother is telling me not to hurt you @alex bc martha and george are my parents' gardening buddies and I'm not allowed to """ruin their relationship"""???

**ham man** : HA

**johnn** : WHY ARE YOU BOTH ON A FIRST NAME BASIS WITH EACH OTHERS PARENTS

**hercules** <3: idk

**ham man** : we're neighbors maybe idk

**hercules <3: **we're dating each other's sons maybe?

**ham man:** yeah but they didn't know about that until now

**betsey** : DID YOU GUYS COME OUT

**ham man** : yEAH

**betsey** : WOOOOOOO

**angie** : YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS QUEEN

**johnn** : congraTS

**martha m.** : S L A Y

**sunshine sincarnate** : IM SO PROUD

**hoN** **HON** : S A ME

**fairy princess af** : YAY!!

**marIa** : WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**ham man** : TODAY HAS BEEN GREAT BUT I AM GOING TO BED SO GOODBYE GN

**marIa** : GN

**fairy princess af** : BONNE NUIT ALEX

**hoN HON** : BONNE NUIT ALEX

**sunshine sincarnate** : BYEE

**martha m**.: SAME TBH GN ALL

**johnn** : GN MARTHA AND ALEX

**martha m.** : BYE JOHN

**angie** : TTYL EVERYONE WHO IS GOING TO BED

**betsey** : GOODNIGHT

**hercules** <3: gn alex ily

**ham man** : ily2

**betsey** : OH MY G OD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can I make anything without texting?? no  
> can I think of interesting contact names for the texting things I include in everything?? no


	16. Chapter 16

It's three days after Christmas and The Schuyler sisters and Lafayette are throwing their annual Christmas party. They had just gotten back from their Christmas trip at their vacation house two days ago, so they were unable to throw the party until now.  
  
They're all in the pull out couch living room. The pull out couches aren't deployed, allowing Alex to actually sit on the couch as a couch for the first time.  
  
"Time for the secret santa!" Angelica announces. They had picked the names for the secret santa shortly after Thanksgiving, that way they were given enough time to actually find things.  
  
"I had Hercules!" Peggy yells, handing a heavy box wrapped in shiny wrapping paper to Hercules. Hercules takes it, sweating under the pressure of everyone watching him. When the piece of paper hiding the front of the present is ripped off, Hercules gasps.  
  
Peggy got Hercules a thread kit. It was wooden, a small glass window in the front of it displayed rows of thread, needles, embroidery floss, and anything else Hercules would ever need for sewing.  
  
"I love this!" Hercules says, setting the box down on the couch to pull Peggy into his arms. Everyone watched the hug happen until it became excessive. They handed off their presents to one another. When Alex is the only one without a present, he takes the one Hercules brought as being for him.  
  
"How did you get your present already?" Hercules asks Alex when he sees the box in his lap.  
  
"Deductive reasoning," Alex replies. Hercules doesn't say anything to the answer, just sits down.  
  
"Are you gonna open it?" Hercules asks. Alex scoffs at him for rushing him, and rips off the wrapping paper. He shrieks when he opens the box, holding up Hercules' sweatshirt that he found a three weeks ago and had been stealing every chance he got.  
  
"Thank you, Hercules! I love it and you so much oh my god," Alex squeals, pulling the sweatshirt on. It goes down to just above his knees. He loves it.  
  
"It's a dress on you," Hercules whispers, eyes filled with so much love it seems to pour out of him and flood the whole room. Alex squeals again, climbing onto Hercules' lap and kissing him.  
  
"This is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen," Lafayette says. Alex pulls away from Hercules to glare at them. He crawls off of Hercules to sit next to him, crossing his legs to watch everyone else to open their presents.  
  
John, who is sitting on the couch next to the one Alex and Hercules are on, open his present next.  
  
"This one is from me!" Adrienne tells him, and John smiles at him.  
  
John swallows. It's a mug with an L on it. L for Laurens maybe?  
  
"You'll understand one day," Adrienne says, and John is genuinely afraid about what she means.  
  
"Thanks for the mug and cryptic message," John speaks, staring down at the mug. If the thing he's supposed to understand is that he'll probably use this mug the next time he spends all day crying, he gets it and will follow her advice. Other than that, he's completely lost.  
  
"Who is this from?" Martha asks, inspecting the thin box in her lap.  
  
"It's from me! Hopefully you'll like it," Alex says.  
  
When Martha opens the box, she almost cries.  
  
It's a scrapbook. The pages are filled with collages of pictures of Martha and everyone else. There are pictures of her and John in it, glittery heart stickers decorate those pages.  
  
There's various amounts of glitter glue, ribbons, and stickers everywhere in it. The first page alone shows how much dedication and thought went into it. So when Martha sees it, she hands it to John and bounds over to Alex.  
  
"Thank you," she whispers into his shoulder when she hugs him. Tears soak into Alex's Hercules' sweatshirt.  
  
"I guess from your Friendsgiving speech that you were just as much of a sappy person as I am, so I thought you would like something like that," he tells her, hugging her back.  
  
"You guessed right. I love it so much, Alex. Thank you."  
  
"No problem."  
  
Martha returns to her seat next to John, hugging the scrapbook to her chest.  
  
"I didn't know you could scrapbook, Alex," Angelica says.  
  
"It's not something I tell people a lot. Makes it an eazier skill to weaponize," he responds.  
  
"Weaponize scrapbooking?" Hercules asks.  
  
"Watch out," Alex warns.  
  
Maria inspects the two presents in her hands.  
  
"Mine are really cheesy but I hope you like them," Martha tells her. Maria smiles and opens the two boxes. In one is a tube of lipstick that was close to the one Maria already had, but Maria liked it better. It was a little bit darker, looked like it had a little more to say than the one she was currently wearing. The second box had a necklace in it. It was golden, the word strong written in fancy cursive. Maria picked it up out of the box, running her thumb over the word over and over again.  
  
"Just in case you ever forget," Martha explains.  
  
"Do you want me to put it on you?" Eliza asks. Maria, tears welling in her eyes, nods. She moves her hair to one side, holding it forward with one hands and wiping her tears with the other as Eliza fumbles on the clasp for the necklace.  
  
"Are you okay, Maria?" Eliza asks.  
  
"Yeah, why?"  
  
"You're neck is sweating," Eliza responds. Maria sits ram rod straight, suddenly remembering why she might not be okay again.  
  
"You should open your present," Maria says, turning to face Eliza. Eliza looks confused, going to unwrap her present. It's two matching bracelets, and one as a piece of paper attached to it.  
  
"These are so pretty, I love them," Eliza says, handing Maria one of the bracelets.  She takes the other bracelet out of the box and touches the piece of paper taped to it. She rips the paper off and unfolds it.  
  
"Yes! Yes, I'll go on a date with you! Oh my god, Maria this is so cute!" Eliza screams. She holds the bracelet tight in her hands as she hugs Maria, who laughs. The whole room claps for them, and both of them blush when they let go.  
  
Peggy opens her present from Angelica, which is a pillow and socks. The pillow is circular, a cute sun with a face smiling back at her. The orange triangular patches sewn onto the pillow to look like sun rays hang off of the pillow. The socks have planets decorating them, even Pluto, which Peggy points out gratefully. She bounces up and down, attacking Angelica in a hug.  
  
"This present is in addition to the one I insisted giving you on Christmas," Lafayette tells Angelica. Angelica nods, opening up the jewelry box.  
  
"This ring is so me it's a tragedy I didn't discover it sooner," Angelica says, fitting it onto her fingers. The ring goes around two fingers and it has the word 'Queen' written in bedazzled rhinestones.  
  
"That's not the only thing," Lafayette says, confused. They look around them, smiling when they find the thing. Angelica opens it when they hand it to her, laughing at the keychain pepper spray.  
  
Lafayette opens their present from Eliza, screaming at the phone case that they open.  
  
"I know it's not much, but I thought you'd like it because of the mermaid aesthetic aspect of it," Eliza says. Lafayette responds by tearing off the pink Otter Box they had on it and putting the new case on.  
  
"Last but not least, from John to Adrienne," John says, gesturing to the box in Adrienne's hand. Adrienne takes her time carefully unwrapping it. Her eyes widen when she pulls apart the Styrofoam casing that was inside the box.  
  
John got Adrienne a statue. It's a ballerina made of glass, painted specially so you can still see through the glass. It looks like her. There's a knob on the bottom that Adrienne turned. The music box plays a song that sounds like her ringtone, twinkling out until the knob is turned all the way back and it stops. It's the most beautiful thing she's ever seen.  
  
"Thank you, John," she says, staring at it. John shrugs, trying to be humble. He knows he gets good Christmas presents, he just won't say that.  
  
After four Disney movies and thirteen games of go fish played with four decks of cards, they were all in the theater, watching even more Disney movies. Martha was lying next to John, and John was trying not to writhe away from her.  
  
"I'm gonna go for a walk," John tells her, getting up and rushing out of the room. Martha sighs, shrugging.  
  
"Alex, can you go look for John, please?" Martha asks when John hadn't been back for over ten minutes. Alex nods, telling Hercules and leaving.  
  
John didn't walk anywhere. He's standing on the front porch, standing, looking at the houses the line the street. Alex wonders if John had ever gone somewhere, or if he's been waiting there waiting for someone to go and get him. John jumps when the door opens.  
  
"Are you okay?" Alex asks as he walks outside.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go back inside," John says. He tries to go back inside, but Alex stops him.  
  
"Don't lie to me, John, it's not a cute look," Alex tells him. John laughs, but it's fake and Alex knows it. John looks down at his feet, hair curtaining his face. He whispers something that Alex doesn't hear, and Alex steps closer to him.  
  
"What did you say?" Alex asks. He lifts John's chin up, moving John's hair out of his face with his sweatshirt paws. He wipes John's tears.  
  
It's silent.  
  
John stares at Alex like he's realized something. Alex stares back, so taken by this look that everything else just kind of falls away.  
  
Before Alex knows what's happening and before John knows what he's doing, John kisses Alex. Alex kisses back, feeling colder than he ever has when John pulls away.  
  
"Fuck," John whispers, running past Alex. John gets in his car and drives away, leaving Alex outside alone in the snow.  
  
Alex goes back inside after he partially wraps his mind around what just happened, lying to Martha and telling her that John was sick and went home.  
  
"What happened?" Hercules asks.  
  
"I'll tell you tomorrow," Alex responds, letting Hercules thaw his freezing body. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHHAHAHHAHhHHhAHAhhHahHHAHahAHahAHAHahHAHhaAH


	17. Chapter 17

Martha is sitting in the backseat of Hercules' car, not saying anything. She has the scrapbook on her lap. There's a tension in the car that she can't define, like Alex and Hercules know something that she doesn't. She hates it.  
  
Hercules pulls up to her house with ease, letting her get out of the car and walk up to her front door before he drives away.  
  
"What happened last night?" Hercules asks, stopping the car one block away from Martha's house. He takes the keys out of the ignition for dramatic effect and turns to Alex. Alex doesn't meet his eyes.  
  
"John kissed me last night. He kissed me, and then he got in his car and drove away," Alex tells him. He's turning over John's Christmas present from Adrienne is hands. Hercules stares straight ahead, focusing on a pile of snow.  
  
"Holy shit," he whispers happily.  Alex just nods, smiling, aware that Hercules can't see him.  
  
"So this means that he probably likes me, but what do we do if he doesn't like you? What does that do to us?" Alex asks. Hercules starts the car, making a U turn in the middle of the road.  
  
"Let's find out," Hercules says, speeding to John's house. Alex is pushed back against the car seat, feet pressing into the floor, staying still for dear life. Alex isn't ready for the upcoming conversation with John, but if he waited until he was he would never have it.  
  
When Hercules pulls into John's driveway, he stares at his house for ten minutes before sighing.  
  
"I'm not going in with you," Hercules says.   
  
"You have to!"  
  
"John is going to feel cornered if I'm there. I can't do that to him," Hercules tells him. Alex smiles and kisses him.  
  
"I'll be right back, I love you," Alex says, getting out of the car. Hercules watches as John's sister opens the door. Alex's hands move quickly as he speaks, compensating for how quietly he's talking. Martha lets him in, closing the door behind him.  
  
"Who was it?" John yells down to Martha as Alex walks in his room.  
  
"Take a guess," Alex says, leaning in his doorway, mug box tucked under his arm. John emerges from underneath his comforter, and he was a mess. His hair was frizzy, eyes bloodshot, and his tears were dried on his face.  
  
"John," Alex says softly, taking a step closer to him. John puts his hand up.  
  
"Stop. I don't want you to come any closer if you're just going to hurt me," John tells him, sniffling. Alex steps closer anyway, setting John's present down on his dresser.  
  
"I'm not here to hurt you," Alex says.  
  
"Then what are you here for?" John asks angrily.  
  
"I'm here because we're friends, John. I'm here because you kissed me and I might kind of want to do it again?" Alex says, and John blinks, surprised.  
  
"You have a boyfriend," John says, confused. He backs up slightly, afraid of what Alex will say next.  
  
"A boyfriend who also wants to kiss you very a lot," Alex responds, and John's eyes widen.  
  
"When have I ever lied to you?" Alex asks. He steps over to John, holding him by the back of neck and kissing him. John whimpers when he pulls away, and Alex smiles.  
  
"If you ever want me to kiss you again, or if you ever want Hercules to kiss you ever, you have to break up with Martha," Alex says. He kisses John on the forehead and leaves his room, going down the stairs and out of the house.  
  
Alex and Hercules go to Alex's house, going up to his room. They cuddle in his bed listening to Christmas music playing from Alex's phone, falling asleep before they can even register that they're tired.  
  
When they wake up, it's to the sound of Alex's phone ringing. He answers it without looking.  
  
"Hello?" Alex asks, putting it on speaker phone. Hercules rolls the sleep out of his eyes, waiting for the person on the phone to speak.  
  
" _Alex? John just broke up with me?_ " Martha says, her voice distorted but stil understandable. Alex and Hercules sit up in the bed, eyes wide.  
  
"Shit," they whisper in unison.  
  
" _What?_ " Martha asks.


	18. Chapter 18

Hercules and Alexander are sitting in Martha's living room on either sides of her couch, putting the distance between them for emphasis that they were not comfortable here. It's not that they didn't like Martha or her house, both were nice and smelled like cinnamon, but it was the subject of why they were here that bothered them.  
  
John had broken up with her, and it was all their fault.  
  
Martha was taking it well, or at least they thought she was. She wasn't in the room, saying she'd be right back.  
  
"What are we going to tell her?" Alex asks Hercules, trying to stay as quiet as he can.  
  
"You don't have to tell me anything," Martha says, coming out of her kitchen with a cup of tea for herself. She sits down in a recliner chair across from the couch, crossing her legs at the knees.  
  
"Martha," Alex begins, but Martha quiets him.  
  
"Save it. You don't have to be sorry, Alex. John told me what happened. He told me that he loved me as a friend but that he couldn't love in any other way than that. He told me that he's really fucking gay, direct quote, and that he loves you, Hercules, and Lafayette in the way he can't love me. He told me that he wanted to be with you, and that was fine. I was suspiciously fine with that. Do you want to know why I was suspiciously fine with that?" Martha asks. Alex and Hercules make eye contact with each other before nodding.  
  
"I understood. I understood every fucking word he said. The truth is that I didn't really love him the way I said I did. I loved him like a friend, but I didn't ever want to have sex with him or do anything more than like, hug him. I never had any feeling for him that extended beyond platonic. I've never had feelings for anyone that went beyond platonic," Martha admits, furrowing her eyebrows. Hercules and Alex look at each other, putting the puzzle together before she can.  
  
"Martha, have you ever considered that you could be aro/ace?" Alex asks. Martha still looks confused.  
  
"Do you mean like Peggy?" She asks. Alex nods.  
  
"Yeah! I mean, you can look it up if you want or you can like ask Peggy if you want to know more about it," Alex suggests. Martha is looking at the floor, confused at what to do in this situation.  
  
"I think I already know the answer to if I am or I'm not, but I'll definitely think about it," she whispers.  
  
"Oh, okay," Alex says. Neither him nor Hercules ask if what she's thinking about, not wanting to upset her. They get up to leave when she looks up at them.  
  
"One more thing," Martha says, standing up. They both turn to her.  
  
"Yeah?" Hercules asks.  
  
"I did love John. Not like that, but I did love him. I do love him. Take care of him, okay?"  
  
"We will. We always will," Alex assures her, hugging her.  
  
When Hercules and Alex are back in the car, the first thing Alex does is call John. John picks up almost immediately, effectively shooting Alex's heart into space where it will probably never come back from.  
  
"We talked to Martha," Alex tells him.  
  
" _What did she say?_ " He asks.  
  
"She told us to take care of you," Alex says quietly but so John can hear it.  
  
" _That's it? She didn't like fight you? Well, you're still alive so I imagine she didn't fight you_ ," John mumbles the last part.  
  
"Hey! I could win in a fight against Martha!" Alex defends himself.  
  
" _No, you couldn't_ ," John and Hercules say at the same, causing Alex to pout.  
  
"John, you can't see this, but he's doing this really cute pouty thing," Hercules says into the phone.  
  
" _Why can't I live closer to you guys so I can ride with you in your car like all the time?_ " John complains, causing Alex and Hercules to laugh.  
  
"We can pick you up," Hercules offers and multiple things are dropped on the other line.  
  
" _I'm not saying I fell off of my bed at being asked to be with you guys but I did. Anyway, you should come and pick me up_ ," John says, and Hercules turns down the road to John's house.  
  
"We're on our way," Hercules says, and John hangs up the phone.  
  
"I love him," Alex whispers. Hercules grabs his hand.  
  
"Me too," Hercules agrees.  
  
John runs out to the car, crawling into the backseat.  
  
"Hi," John says, buckling his seatbelt.  
  
They pull into the alleyway, walking up the entryway in a line. They take off most of their clothes, keeping it pure, and they get into his bed. Hercules sits up, tapping John on the arm. Alex lies in between them, watching whatever is happening happen.  
  
"I haven't kissed you yet," Hercules says, admiring the way John blushes. Hercules laughs at him, and John stops. He climbs onto Hercules, pushing him back onto the bed and kissing him.  
  
"You are not having sex on my bed," Alex tells them. John stops kissing Hercules to laugh.  
  
"We should have a New Year's party," John says, rolling off of Hercules and over Alex onto the other side of the bed.  
  
"Don't the Schuylers have one of those? They have a party for everything," Alex says, but John shakes his head.  
  
"New Years is the one holiday that the Schuyler parents have parties at their house," John explains, and Alex nods. John smiles, kissing him.  
  
"Maybe we can ask Lafayette out then," Hercules suggests, and his two boyfriends break apart.  
  
"That's the best idea I have ever heard," Alex responds, rolling around to kiss him.  
  
Alex thinks that this relationship is the best thing that's ever happened to him.  
  
\---  
  
The next day, on New Year's Eve, Alex opened his doors to one of the funniest things he has ever seen.  
  
Lafayette and Adrienne stood in front of the door. They both had both of their hands on both of their temples, exasperated at the three girls standing behind them. Their bags are on thier shoulder, balancing precariously.  
  
"We tried to tell them that this isn't what you bring to a sleepover but they didn't listen to us," they say, walking into Alex's house.  
  
Alex laughs when he sees them. Eliza has four pillow pets in her hand, tied together with a bathrobe belt. All three of them have huge duffel bags that they struggle to get through the door. They set the the bags on the floor next the door where Alex tells them to, letting them pile up and then topple over.  
  
"Lafayette, could you come here for a second?" John calls down the stairs. Lafayette looks at Alex, confused. Alex shrugs, hiding his smile, and the two of them run up the stairs to Alex's room. Alex leads Lafayette to his room, letting them in first and then walking in after them.  
  
"We have something to tell you," Hercules says. Alex closes the door, and Lafayette looks in between them all.  
  
"What's going on?" Lafayette asks.  
  
"I don't know if you knew," John begins, "but I broke up with Martha yesterday," John tells them. Lafayette doesn't get it still, only looking more perplexed.  
  
"I don't understand," they say. John steps closer, looking down at the floor.  
  
"I broke up with Martha because I'm gay. I broke up with Martha because I'm in love with Alex, and Hercules," John pauses, looking up at Lafayette, "and you." Lafayette is as stiff as a board, looking at Hercules and Alex.  
  
"In fewer words and less sappiness, we're all pretty in love with you and each other, and we think that it'd be pretty great if you would date us," Hercules says.  
  
"Is this a joke?" Lafayette asks. If the sound of three hearts shattering was audible, it'd be the only noise right now.  
  
"No. We would never joke about this," Alex tells them.  
  
"Yes," Lafayette says.  
  
"What?" The three of them ask. Lafayette smiles widely, standing up on the balls of their feet.  
  
"Yes, I'll go out with you!" Lafayette squeals. The three of them scream, causing Lafayette to jump. The three of them envelop them into a hug. Lafayette laughs, not being able to hug back as they were restricting their arms.  
  
"This is the best day of my life," Alex says, and he's not lying.  
  
The four of them go downstairs, all connected by their hand holding chain. Maria and Martha are there now, sitting next to each other on the couch. Angelica and Eliza, sitting next to each other on the recliner chair in Alex's living room, look at them all.  
  
"I'm guessing something happened upstairs?" Eliza asked, raising her eyebrows.  
  
"I have three boyfriends now," Lafayette says timidly, squeezing Hercules and John's hands. Everyone claps, the four of them bowing as if they were on stage.  
  
"Finally!" Maria calls out, laughing at the nine glares she receives.  
  
They spend the rest of the night playing cards and eating mainly pretzels. The eat Mac and Cheese and drink soda. They spill both the soda and the pasta, screaming as the wipe up the mess out of the carpet. All of the shenanigans wind down to midnight, and they're all watching the ball drop.  
  
The chant with the numbers on the screen, screaming as it hits zero.  
  
Lafayette kisses Hercules and John kisses Alex, all of them laughing after it, not believing that they finally got their shit together. Maria kisses Eliza on the cheek, leaving a red lipstick mark there that Eliza refuses to wipe off. Angelica kisses Adrienne on the forehead, and Martha and Peggy kiss the palms of their hands and high five each other.  
  
They're all asleep in Alex's living room by half past midnight, as ready to the new year on as they can be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaha the next chapter is The Chapter so watch tf out


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Chapter, everybody

Something is wrong.

Over the past beginning weeks of the year, Adrienne has been wanting to spend much more time with her friends than she ever has. She spent tons of time with them already, but it seemed now that every waking second she had free was spent trying to make plans with them. Usually they agreed, loving to spend time with her. They noticed something was wrong very early on. Adrienne usually didn't want to do much extra, usually preferring to just sit inside with them all and do whatever they wanted.

Lafayette asks about it one day. They're driving down a back road to somewhere Adrienne hadn't said in a car that Lafayette didn't even know Adrienne had. Lafayette had only seen farms for the past thirty miles. They didn't know there could be so many different shades of dying wheat, but now they did, and they literally do not care.

"Adrienne, are you okay?" Lafayette asks. They're all but ejected from their seat, seatbelt choking them. Lafayette looks at her, afraid. Adrienne doesn't their question, just stares down at her lap, gripping the steering wheel tightly. It takes Lafayette a moment to realize that she's crying.

"Adrienne, what's wrong?" Lafayette asks, reaching out to touch her arm cautiously.

"I have to go back to France," she says.

Lafayette puts their arm down.

\---

Alex, John, and Hercules are looking everywhere. They've swept the entire school twice, the parking lot, the football field, and everywhere else they can on school campus for Lafayette and Adrienne, only to find nobody.

They're standing in the bathroom, Hercules resting on the sink and staring at himself in the mirror. Alex is pacing, ranting as he goes. Hercules is following his words loosely, some of them in English, some in French, and some in different languages that Hercules doesn't understand.

"What is he saying?" Hercules asks John, who is leaning against the stall dividers.

"I don't know. He said that Lafayette could have been kidnapped in French, then started saying how Lafayette could be dead in Latin, then he said some stuff in other languages, and now he's just yelling incoherently," John explains. Alex stops.

"Are you not extremely worried?" Alex asks them both.

"I'm about to vomit into this sink," Hercules admits honestly.

"Adrienne and Lafayette are probably together, and wherever that is, they're probably protecting each other," John tells them, completely calm.

Alex and Hercules look at John silently.

"I spent the past hour convincing myself that that's what's happening please don't undo my hard work," John says. Alex and Hercules sigh, walking over to John and kissing him on the temples.

They leave the bathroom, calling people on their way out.

Lafayette and Adrienne don't answer their phones. The three of them know that Eliza and Maria are currently on their first date, so they don't call them, not wanting to ruin the mood that they finally managed to create after all the years that they've known each other.

They call Lafayette ten more times on the drive to their house, and they know that they're being excessive, but they can't help themselves.

Peggy and Martha are home when they get there, both of them saying that they hadn't seen either of them. Peggy invites them in, telling them that they were more than welcome to wait. The three of them came in, sitting in the living room, hoping that their Lafayette would come home soon. 

\---

Adrienne hasn't answered the question again. She's driving again, eyes focused on the road, reducing the car to utter silence.

"What do you mean you have to go back to France?" Lafayette asks quietly.

"My dad wants me to go back," she whispers, tears filling her eyes again.

"Why? You love it here! He loves it here! I don't understand why you would all of a sudden just pack up and move back to France when you have all of u-"

"I'm dying," she says loudly. Lafayette stops talking.

"What?"

"I'm sick and I'm dying. My dad wants to take me back to France because he thinks that I'll be more comfortable there. He's taking to me back to France so that I can die," she confesses, the car slowing down to a halt.

"When did you get sick?" Lafayette asks, afraid to hear the answer.

"June. I wasn't as bad then."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lafayette asks. Adrienne ignores them again, and Lafayette sighs.

"They said that I had maybe about three years left, until something happened in August. Do you want to know what I wished for in that fountain on your birthday?" Adrienne asks. Lafayette stays silent, allowing her to continue.

"I wished for more time, Lafayette. After the thing in August, they told me that I was supposed to die in November, so I guess I got my wish," she laughs, wiping her tears, "now I get to die any day."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lafayette asked again.

"I didn't know how! In August school had just started, and I was going to tell you in September but there was never a right time with your birthday and John dating Martha. In October there was the thing with John and the party and Alex and Hercules and everything else. In November I gave up. I thought I was going to die. I thought that once I did, my dad would would tell you what had had happened to me."

"You were fine with me finding out that you were sick from your father?" Lafayette questions. They're crying now too. Adrienne is their best friend. They can't lose her.

"I thought that it'd be easier," she says.

"Easier than suffering in silence and dying without saying goodbye to me?"

"Saying goodbye to you is going to be the hardest thing I will ever have to do. It will be harder than dying. It will be harder than this suffering. It will be torture." Lafayette is sobbing, pulling their sleeves over their hands so that they could cry into them properly.

"I leave in a month," she chokes out.

"I'm going with you." Adrienne laughs, more tears falling down her eyes.

"You can't. You have to stay here with the Schuylers and everyone else who loves you. You can't just come back to France for me, I won't let you."

Adrienne turns around, starting the long and silent drive back to the Schuyler house. Both of them are crying still, but Adrienne doesn't let it get to her. She blinks them out of her eyes so that she can drive.

Lafayette walks into the Schuyler house in front of Adrienne. The two of them don't have to walk far before they're attacked by everyone, all of which sigh once their arms are around them.

"What's going on?" Lafayette asks.

"You left school!" Alex yells.

"And then you didn't tell us where you were going!" John adds, laughing. Then he stops.

"What's wrong?" John asks, noticing Lafayette and Adrienne's tears.

"I'm dying," Adrienne answers, fiddling with the ring she was wearing.

"What?" Angelica asks.

"I have a disease that my doctors can't identify. They don't know what it is but they do know that it's killing me and my dad wants me to go back to France so I could die where I was born. It's kind of fucked up when you think about it," she says. They're all silent. They're still silent when they wrap their arms back around her, tighter than before.

Everyone has to go home that night, to all of their dismay. Adrienne is the last one to stand to leave, but Lafayette holds onto her wrist.

"Stay, please," they plead.  
  
"I have to get home, _mon amour_. I'll see you tomorrow," she says, turning back away.

"Stay with me," Lafayette begs, but this time it's different. She knows what they mean. They mean stay. They mean don't die. She can't promise them that.

She is running out of time, and she is not willing to give them specification as to how much she has left.

" _Je suis toute à vous_ ," she whispers, and walks out of the door. Lafayette stares where she just should, not understanding what she meant.

If Lafayette knew that was the last time they would see her, they would've insisted on a proper goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have work tomorrow (today??) at seven am and it is 1 am rn and I am not tired so basically hahahahha fuck my life also I am so sorry for this


	20. Chapter 20

The sky is bright blue. The sun shines over a cloudless sky. The sound of laughter can be heard from the yards of almost every house.   
  
It's the worst weather for a funeral.   
  
Adrienne died two days after she told Lafayette that she was sick. Her father called them fourteen minutes after she had been pronounced dead and told them. She had been getting worse quickly over the past few weeks, her personal health deteriorating until there was nothing left. She died in the hospital. She had requested in her last minutes for her father to tell Lafayette that she was sorry.   
  
Lafayette had screamed when they were told, alarming all of the Schuyler sisters, who came running in. Lafayette had told them, and soon they joined them in their grief. They fell asleep that night in Lafayette's bed, trying to comfort them in the best way that they can.  
  
Lafayette, Alex, and Hercules stand over her casket.   
  
Alex is crying, sobbing. He had only known her for half of a year, but a lot had happened in that time that made Alex losing her hurt just as bad as it had meant the rest of them losing her. He stared at her, her sparkling aura still painfully there even in death. Hercules has his arm around him, trying not to cry.  
  
Lafayette doesn't say anything. They're not crying. At first glance, it looks like they're completely unfocused, until you notice the relentless grip they have on Alex's hand, the clench of their jaw. They won't believe this. They can't think that their best friend is lying before them in her best dress because she is dead. They don't want to face this.   
  
John is standing to the side, his father's hand gripping his shoulder to the point of pain. John has his hands folded in front of him, physically restraining himself from crying. He watches his three significant others all mourn together, each in their own way, and he wishes nothing more than to be with them.   
  
"I'm going to go see her," John whispers, to which Henry nods. His hand leaves John's shoulder and drops to his side, leaving John to walk up next to Hercules. When he sees her, he starts crying instantly. He sniffs, tries to hide it, but he knows his father's are boring into his back, disappointed that his sun didn't have an indestructible shell like he did.   
  
Tucked in between Adrienne's body and her arm, is the glass ballerina statue that John got her for Christmas. John can't look at anything else. The statue will be kept with her forever, and John couldn't be more grateful for that fact.   
  
The funeral is set to start in twenty minutes, and her body and everyone else have yet to be transported to the church it's being held in. They're all sitting on the chairs in the room, none of them quite sure what to say. John wants nothing more than to comfort everyone and be comforted, but his father is staring him down, not allowing him to be free in his movements or thoughts.   
  
John gets one good moment in this horrible day. Henry's phone vibrates, and he leaves to take the call. Once John is sure that his father is gone, he takes Lafayette's hand in his and squeezes. He holds their conjoined hands to his lips, kissing their knuckles.   
  
"Are you okay?" John asks. He knows the answer, but he can't stop himself from asking it anyway. Lafayette laughs, bringing their hands to their mouth now and kissing the back of John's hand.   
  
"No," they answer. They love John, truly, but they don't know what else to do when he asks that question. John sighs when Lafayette does. Lafayette shifts in their seat so that they can rest their head on John's shoulder. John looks down at them for a few minutes, and when he looks up, his heart stops.   
  
His father is staring at him, beady eyes hardened, shining like two pieces of coal. His mouth is compressed into a straight line, nostrils flaring. His jaw is tightened, his hands clenched into fists. His eyebrows rise slightly, and then he leaves. John knows what it means. John knows by that one movement the silent promise of 'we will talk about this later' had been made and sealed.   
  
The funeral started, everything going as funerals usually do, when it was time for Lafayette to give the eulogy. They rose from their pew with shaky legs, reluctantly letting go of Alex's hand. They step up to the raised marble flooring in the church, walking over to the pulpit. They clear their throat and adjust the microphone.   
  
"My meeting Adrienne had not been by chance. It had been prearranged by her father, but he couldn't have predicted what would happen to us after he ignited the spark that was the dynamic of her and I together."   
  
"He couldn't have predicted how close we would grow, connected at the hip. He wouldn't have guessed that years after our meeting that he would be taking us both to America, her to live with him in their new home and me to live with the people who have so graciously accepted me as one of their own. Not me, her, nor her father could have ever dreamed of the friendships we would make here or the love we would be given."  
  
"Nobody in this entire congregation, let alone me, Adrienne, or her father, could have imagined that so many years after our meeting that I would be standing here with all of my strength not to cry as I give the eulogy at her funeral because died before she even had the chance to live."  
  
"Adrienne's last words to me were _'Je suis toute à vous'_. I am all yours. You are supposed to respect the dead, so I will respectfully disagree when I say, she was never mine. We were hers, and the world will never be the same now that she is not here to improve it."  
  
Lafayette wipes the tears out of their eyes and walks away, rejoining Alex and Hercules in the pew. Their eyes, are fixated on her casket, and then, like a gunshot, it hits them all at once. Tears flood their eyes, pouring down their face. Alex wraps his arm around them, their sobbing causing a scene in the otherwise silent church.   
  
The funeral is let out, and Lafayette is emotionally and physically drained. Alex is holding their hand again, walking with them out of the church. Hercules, Alex and them are going to the Schuyler house, not thinking that they can watch Adrienne get buried. Lafayette had asked them and John to come home with them, not wanting to be alone right now. They had agreed without hesitation.   
  
The four of them are about to get into the limousine that drove Hercules, Alex, and John over. Hercules opens the door for them when Henry Laurens' cold, unforgiving, and disapproving voice rings throughout across the throngs of people.   
  
"Jack!" he calls. John stops cold. Hercules, Alex, and Lafayette look between each other, not aware of what is going to happen next.  
  
"Father?" John asks, slowly turning to him.   
  
"You're coming with me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrienne's eulogy is written down in a cat shaped notebook and I cried while typing it out here haha


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!TRIGGER WARNING!!!
> 
> physical abuse, while not graphically depicted, occurs and is mentioned as well as homophobia so just watch out!!

Hercules, Alex, Lafayette, and the Schuyler sisters all sitting in the living room when John knocks on the door. Eliza goes over to answer it, gasping when she sees him. This has happened too many times.  
  
John is shaking like a leaf. He's collapsed on the ground in between two duffel bags and he's crying. When he looks up at Eliza, there's a red handprint marked onto John's face.  
"Oh, John," she whispers, hand coming off of the doorknob to cover her mouth.  
  
Hercules, Lafayette, and Alex round the corner at the mention of John's name, all of them staring in shock at what they see. Then, all at once, they start moving. Hercules takes John's bags and waits while Lafayette and Alex each gather John into their arms and lift him up. John is still crying, letting himself be dragged in by them. He's lightly set down on the armchair that Eliza had been sitting on.  
  
John can vaguely register someone forcing a cup of tea into his hands, but he can't really taste it when he does drink it. When he looks at the mug he's given, the ringing in his ears stops and his confusion replaces it. The cup has 'Lafayette' written on it in fancy cursive, with a large letter V on the front in the same font as John's Christmas mug. Why did they have this?  
  
"What does the V mean?" John asks, and Lafayette, who is kneeling in front of him, furrows their eyebrows.  
  
"I'm not sure. Adrienne gave it to me a little while after Christmas," they explain, hands on either sides of John's thighs.  
  
"I have an L," John whispers, and Lafayette looks worriedly at Alex and Hercules.  
  
"Do you want to tell us what happened?" Alex asks from the side of the chair. John finally registers Alex's hair running through his hair, and he sighs once does.  
  
"My dad saw me kiss Lafayette's hand at the funeral home," John says. Lafayette's grip tightens on John's legs. John knows that they're on edge because of Adrienne, and he really hates knowing that he's making them upset by saying this, but he has to tell them. He wants to tell them.  
  
"I'm so sorry, _mon amour_ ," Lafayette whispers, hand going up to cradle John's jaw in his hand.  
  
"It's not your fault that my dad got mad because I love you. It's not our fault he kicked me out, either," John mumbles.  
  
"He kicked you out?" Hercules asks, lightly touching his arm.  
  
"After he slapped me for saying that I was gay, he said that I was a bad influence on my siblings. He said that I might corrupt them into living my lifestyle someday and that he couldn't allow me to live in his house because of that risk," John tells them.  
  
"That's terrible," Lafayette says.  
  
"Yeah, but I don't decide what happens underneath my father's roof, so he gave me twenty minutes to pack my things and leave," John explains. He's attacked by his three significant others wrapping their arms around him from different angles. The Schuyler sisters, who had just been watching and talking amongst themselves joined in this whole time, crowding John in a huge group hug.  
  
"What's wrong?" Peggy asks when John starts crying again.  
  
"I'm sorry for bringing my problems into this. I know that we're all still mourning Adrienne and I just show up with my mess and I-"  
  
"Your problems don't go away because other things are happening around them," Lafayette says, reaching around for John's hand.  
  
"You can live with me," Alex whispers, and the hug breaks so everyone can look at him.  
  
"What?" John asks, thinking that he didn't hear him right.  
  
"Well, my house has that one extra room across the hall from mine, and I was thinking you could stay in it?" Alex explains, wringing his hands.  
  
"Would Martha and George be okay with that?" John questions. Inside, he wants to correct himself for calling them by first name, but he doesn't voice that.  
  
"I'm sure once we explain the situation that they'd be for it," Alex responds.  
  
Alex explains it to them after an hour of meticulous planning of how they were going to do so. His words rush out of his mouth like a river as he explains it to them in their bedroom while John waits in their kitchen directly below it. John can visualize the his hands flying everywhere as he speaks, Alex never being one to keep still when he's trying to voice something. As Alex pleads with them, John notices that the floors in their house are very thin. John can hear almost every word.  
  
John hears all of their voices drop down into a whisper, their conversation turning into muffled discussion out of John's hearing range. He doesn't know what they said to make who he's pretty sure is Alex jump up and down like he is, but John hopes it good news. Alex comes rushing down the steps, almost tripping. He looks at John, a wild expression on his face.  
  
"They said yes!" He squeals, going over to hug John. John picks Alex up, kissing him. They stop kissing, laughing into each other's mouths.  
  
"Thank you," John whispers, tears in his eyes again. Alex doesn't respond, just kisses him again.  
  
They call Hercules and Lafayette over once they've said yes, helping John unpack his two bags into the spare room at the end of the hall. It doesn't take long, but it would have taken shorter if they didn't all stop every ten minutes to tell John how much they love him.  
  
Once everything is put away, all four of them collapse on John's new bed. Alex gets up and turns the light switch off before rejoining them on the bed.  
  
They fall asleep with their hearts full of sorrow from the day's events, but they fall asleep loved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha this is so short sorry


	22. Chapter 22

It's Valentine's Day, and Lafayette is sitting alone on the floor of Adrienne's room. They're looking around in some of her boxes before they drive over to Alex's house, not finding anything particularly interesting until they found two boxes with Hercules and Alex's names written on them in Adrienne's handwriting.   
  
They opened the boxes carefully, afraid to know what's inside. They pull two mugs out of each box. Alex's has an O and Hercules' has an E, written in the font of Lafayette's V mug. Lafayette inspects them for a minute, and then it clicks.   
  
Love. John's, Alex's, Lafayette's, and Hercules' mugs all spelt out the word 'love'. Adrienne had known before they did.   
  
Lafayette left her room with the two boxes, saying goodbye to her father before they run out of the house into their car. They speed to Alex's, going through the unlocked kitchen door and into the house.  
  
"Who's down?" Alex calls. Lafayette smiles.   
  
"Just me, _mon cher_ ," they call back. Alex runs down the stairs, walking over to Lafayette and kissing them. He holds onto Lafayette's shoulders.   
  
"Happy Valentine's Day, you're late," Alex says, voice serious, eyes squinting, trying to feign anger. Lafayette sets one box on the counter next to them so that they can wrap their arm around Alex's waist. They kiss him on the nose, smiling as Alex tries not to laugh.   
  
"Sorry," Lafayette apologizes, kissing Alex again quickly before letting him go.   
  
"Where were you?" Alex asks, looking at the one box on the counter with his name on it.   
  
"Adrienne's. Y'know the mugs that she got me and John? The ones that have the L and V on them?" Alex nods and Lafayette gets out Hercules' mug.   
  
"What about them?" Alex questions.   
  
"I found the matching ones," Lafayette says, turning the mug to face Alex, displaying the E to him. Alex stares at the mug before opening the box with his name on it, holding the O mug in his hands like it's the most precious thing he has ever touched.   
  
"She knew that we'd end up together," Alex sniffs, wiping his tears. Alex goes over to their mug cabinet, taking out the L and V mug. Lafayette doesn't know if they left it here or Alex stole it, but they're grateful it's here either way. He doesn't fill them with anything, just carries them all upstairs, the ceramic clinking against each other as they're held together in his arms.   
  
"What are those?" Hercules asks when Alex walks into the living room. John is sitting in between his outstretched legs, braid half done in his hair.   
  
Lafayette stares at the whole room, taking it in slowly. The Washington's still have their Christmas tree up, something Lafayette knew, but still. The tree lights were the only ones on in the room except for a very small and dim lamp on the table next to the recliner chair. There was Valentine's day candy unopened littered everywhere, the whole couch organized into different kinds of gummy hearts.   
  
"Lafayette found mugs for us from Adrienne that match John's and Lafayette's," Alex explains, adjusting the mugs to that the L one falls into John's lap. Lafayette takes their V mug, saving Alex the physical harm. Alex hands the E cup to Hercules, keeping the O mug for himself.   
  
"Isn't everybody supposed to be here?" Lafayette questions, gesturing to the fact that it was only the four of them. Not that they were complaining. John shook his head, yelping when Hercules pulled his hair to keep him still. Hercules apologized, but John still elbowed him in the stomach for it.  
  
"Maria and Eliza are on a date, Martha W. and Dolley asked Angelica on a date so she's with them, and Martha M. and Peggy said that they didn't want to watch us make out the whole night so they went to a movie," Hercules responds, hands moving swiftly through John's hair. John makes an agreeing sound, refusing to nod lest his hair be yanked out of his fucking scalp again.   
  
"That makes sense," Lafayette says, shrugging and sitting down.   
  
"Did Alex kiss you yet?" John asks, to which Lafayette nods.   
  
"Fuck you," John spits at Alex. Alex responds by laughing and sticking his tongue out.   
  
"Our dear John here actually called dibs on kissing you first, but dibs is stupid and childish so I rebelled against it and made out with you in the kitchen," Alex tells Lafayette. Lafayette rolls their eyes before kneeling down on the ground and kissing John. John grins like a child, melting Lafayette's heart.  
  
After John's braid is done, he immediately bounds over to the couch and rips open a bag of gummy hearts.   
  
There's really no stopping them after that.   
  
The candy supply is utterly ravaged by the end of the night. Lafayette can't even remember how it went so quickly through the Sweet Tart induced haze. They had spent most of the night eating candy and getting kissed. When they asked why all three of them kissed them so much, none of them answered.   
  
Lafayette is almost asleep in Alex's bed when Alex slings an arm over their waist and rests his head on their shoulder.   
  
"Do you want to know why we kept kissing you?" He whispers, as to not wake the other two up.   
  
"Why?"   
  
"It's the first time since before Adrienne died that you've ever laughed so much. You just looked so happy," Alex tells them. He sighs and then falls asleep like that, head still leaning on Lafayette's shoulder.   
  
Lafayette falls asleep right after, warm feeling in their stomach at the affection that the three of them constantly show them.   
  
The next morning, the memory of what Alex had said to them come rushing to the front of their mind. They roll around to face Alex, pulling him closer. They're the only one awake, left alone in the silence to think about it.   
  
The rest of them wake up when Lafayette starts crying.   
  
"What's wrong?" John asks from behind Alex, eyes still half closed from sleep.   
  
"I'm just thinking about Adrienne, it's fine," Lafayette says, trying to stop themselves from crying.  
  
"You can always come to us with stuff like this," Hercules tells them, rubbing Lafayette's upper arm.   
  
"I know, it's just kind of hard to talk about her. Like, she came to America with me and she was always there for me, and then she died. I miss her so much, and I know it's Valentine's Day weekend and it's supposed to be about love, but I just can't help thinking about how much she would've loved being here," Lafayette says.  
  
"You did love her, that's enough for Valentine's Day," John assures them. Lafayette nods, crying harder. The three of them cuddle closer to them, trying to help however they can.  
  
They don't end up leaving the bed until lunch, but they know that Lafayette is worth spending half of the day for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finishing this today I s2g
> 
> it is at present june 20 @ 9:54 pm est just to document it 
> 
> also martha w/dolley/angelica is now my new ot3 and I will probably fight someone for it


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also I said I would finish this last night but fuckign it's june 21 @ 9:23 am est and I want to die

Dolley Payne's house had always been a mystery. Nobody had ever been invited there outside of her circle of friends with the exception of a few people she deemed interesting enough. She didn't talk about her house or what happened in it, keeping it as secret as she can.  
  
So when Lafayette gets a text message from her telling them to get Alex and come to her house as soon as possible, Lafayette is admittedly reluctant to go.  
  
They go anyway. Lafayette pulls up to the house, which is almost like a castle in size. They park their car in front of the house in case they need an easy getaway, getting out and knocking on the front door. Dolley opens the door almost instantly.  
  
"We need your help," she says, unlocking her screen door and pushing it open for them.  
  
"With what?" Lafayette asks as they're dragged into a sitting room.  
  
"Saint Patrick's Day is in two weeks, and that means that Thomas and James are going to get drunk, make out, and then pretend that they didn't. We need you two to infiltrate the system and make sure that by the time that day rolls around, they're dating," Martha explains.  
  
"Wait, they're still not dating?" Alex asks, genuinely surprised.  
  
"No, they're not, because they're fucking stupid," Dolley says, exasperated.  
  
The four of them spend until midnight making plans, carefully creating backups and backups for the backups until there was virtually no way they could go wrong with this. Lafayette falls asleep at some point, their head resting on the glass coffee table. Alex smiles, running his hand through Lafayette's hair lovingly.  
  
"You guys can stay here tonight, if you want," Dolley tells Alex. Martha is standing next to her, both of them just watching.  
  
"Thanks," Alex says, not stopping his hand in Lafayette's hair. He takes out his phone to text John that they won't be home that night when Lafayette stirs.  
  
"What's happening?" Lafayette asked, voice rough from just waking up. Alex shh's them, kissing the back of their neck.  
  
"Just go back to bed," Alex whispers, and Lafayette makes a noise, pulling away from Alex and standing up only to collapse on the couch.  
  
"I'm going to go vomit, goodnight," Dolley says, taking Martha by the hand and dragging her away.  
  
\---  
  
"James!" Alex calls out the next day. James, who had been walking to the front doors in the hall turns around, looking at Alex to see what he wants. Alex beckons him closer, leading him into an empty classroom. Lafayette had already left the school with Jefferson, executing their part of the plan. Hercules and John were in the parking lot, waiting for Alex.  
  
"Alex? What do you need?"  James asks once they're in the classroom. He's glancing around the room, feeling like he's about to accused of something. Or offered drugs. He's not really sure yet.  
  
"I'm having trouble with this class and I was wondering if you could help me," Alex lies. He's actually doing great in this subject, it's one of his favorite classes, but it's for the sake of the plan.  
  
"Actually, I'm pretty terrible at this subject, but your boyfriend is quite good at it," Madison responds, looking embarrassed for rejecting him. Alex doesn't even know which boyfriend he's talking about. Alex groans, dragging it out for a full minute before he has to breathe.  
  
"Did I say something?" James asks timidly.  
  
"I have to ask you a question," Alex admits, letting Madison think he was safe from this being awkward.  
  
"Okay, go."  
  
"Do you want to fuck Jefferson or not?"  
  
James chokes, stuttering. Alex is trying not to laugh.  
  
\---  
  
Meanwhile, Lafayette and Jefferson are sitting at a park bench across the street from the stand they got ice cream at. They're both laughing at something, Lafayette almost forgetting what this was for. They both finally calm down, and Lafayette is drawn back to earth enough to ask the question they're supposed to.  
  
"What's the deal with you and Madison?" Lafayette asks, spooning ice cream into their mouth. Jefferson sucks in a breath through his teeth and huffs.  
  
"I'm always flirting with him but he never notices which is rude. I think it's because he's too nervous and shy to notice that I want to strip him down an-"  
  
"Stop," Lafayette insists, not wanting to ever hear this.  
  
"I'm just saying," Jefferson says casually, as if he wasn't about describe his sexual fantasies of James Madison out loud in this park. He licks his ice cream cone and shrugs.  
  
\---  
  
They're both still in the classroom. Alex has no idea how long they've been there, just that Madison has been stuttering the whole time.  
  
"Is that a yes because he wants your dick in his ass more than I want to leave this conversation," Alex tells him. He can practically feel Madison's face heat up.  
  
"I am going to trust you with my feelings just this once, okay?" James says, and Alex nods, sitting down.  
  
James sets his books down on the desk in front of Alex and sits down. Sighing, he turns his desk sideways so he can face Alex better.  
  
"Thomas is very extreme and straightforward about what he wants. Everybody knows that. I know that he is," he hesitates, "attracted to me, in some respects."  
  
"There are no respectful ways to say what he wants to do to you," Alex remarks, shutting up when James glares at him.  
  
"Anyway, I'm just afraid that I won't be able to match the pace that he is constantly living in," James admits, staring into his lap. Alex snorts, causing James to flinch.  
  
"You're his pace now! You literally handle him fine. Now just handle him more by fucking him into the mat-"  
  
"Can you please calm down?" James asks, face burning like he just got slugged in the face with a fucking skillet.  
  
"Excuse you I am directly quoting his twitter account that evidently nobody has shown you yet," Alex defends.  
  
"What twitter account?" James asks, and Alex scoffs. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and goes to the account, handing his phone to James. Alex watches as James reads through the tweets dumbfounded. He reaches out to touch James' face. curious as to how hot it is.  
  
"Drop the hand or I will cut it off," James threatens. Alex, completely surprised by the sudden warning coming from him, pulls his hand back immediately.  
  
"You should ask him out," Alex says, peering over his desk to look at whatever Jefferson said that Madison was reading. Madison makes eye contact with Alex at the suggestion.  
  
He pulls out his phone.  
  
\---  
  
"Just be direct," Lafayette instructs, making gestures with their arms to illustrate their point. Jefferson slams his hands on the table.  
  
"I have been direct! I have literally told James that could fuck me the fuck up and I'd be fine with it but he's so fucking," spit is flying everywhere as Jefferson yells, "oblivious to the fact that I just want to be fucking cute and gross with him so much that it hurts!"  
  
"This is the grossest thing I have ever seen seconded to my own relationship," Lafayette tells him, flinching at the glare they get from Thomas.  
  
The glare melts away when Jefferson's phone starts buzzing on the table.  
  
The background photo is a picture of James that he definitely did not know was being taken. His face is clear of as much awkwardness as physically possible for being James Madison. The contact name is 'James' with so many heart emojis after it that they don't fit on the screen, the ellipse concealing the rest of them legitimately worrying Lafayette.  
  
Jefferson answers the phone.  
  
"James," he says into the phone, his current volume a sharp contrast to the yelling he had just been doing. James talks on the phone for a while. Lafayette watches as Jefferson smiles widely at them.  
  
"I would love to," Jefferson says. James says something into the phone, and Thomas' face falls. The call disconnects.  
  
"What happened?" Lafayette asks.  
  
"He asked me out."  
  
"Why do you look like you're about to die then? Like, in a bad way?" Lafayette questions.  
  
"He asked me out. Then he told me he knew about my twitter account," Jefferson explains, voice shaky. Lafayette is silent for a moment, and then they start cackling.  
  
"It's not funny!" Jefferson insists. Lafayette doesn't listen, laughing so hard that they fall off of the park bench.  
  
\---  
  
When they're all in John's bed later, Lafayette starts laughing.  
  
"His twitter account," is all they whisper, but it's enough to send them into a laughing fit anyway.  
  
They have a hard time coming down from that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HAVE AN OUTLINE FOR THIS WHOLE STORY THAT I'VE BEEN FOLLOWING AND THIS CHAPTER IS SO FUCKIGN UNCALLED FOR AND FUNNY TO ME THAT I H AD TO KEEP IT
> 
> THE ACTUAL DIALOGUE THAT I PUT IN THE OUTLINE IS W A Y MORE EXPLICIT THAN WHAT I ACTUALLY PUT I SWEAR TO GOD I JUST


	24. Chapter 24

Alex wakes up on their graduation day panicked that they're late.  
  
He bounces out of bed, a struggle considering he had been compacted in between Hercules and John. He takes the blanket with him, waking up his three significant others in the process. Lafayette yelps at the sudden cold, wrapping themselves up in John to adapt. John whines, trying to pull Hercules closer to him to accommodate for the loss of warmth. Hercules doesn't make any weird noises, just rolls over, moving right next to John in the process.  
  
"We're late! Come on!" Alex yells, clapping to try and wake them up. Lafayette groans.  
  
"Alex," they get their phone from John's bedside table, "It's noon! We don't have to be at the school until five!"   
  
"Oh," Alex whispers, stopping the clapping. The blanket is pooled at his feet, the light from the window shining on him.  
  
"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to come back to bed?" John asks. Lafayette and Hercules don't say anything. Hercules groans and rolls back over and Lafayette moves away from John enough to compensate enough room for Alex.  Alex worms his way into the space, covering them all back in the blanket. They all fall asleep within minutes.  
  
When they wake up again, they actually are late. Alex rushes around the house, getting his, Lafayette's, and John's outfits. Hercules leaves to go get his, coming back twenty minutes later dressed. They all stand in a circle then, admiring how all of them look.   
  
"We look good," Alex says, grinning.   
  
"I'd fuck us," Lafayette says, adjusting their tie, laughing when Hercules pushes them. John leans against Lafayette's shoulder, trying to muffle his laughter into their arm. Lafayette puts their arms around his shoulders.   
  
George and Martha bust in then, Hugh, Sarah, and Hugh Jr. crowding behind them. George and Sarah have cameras. They're all afraid.   
  
They spend twenty minutes taking photos of the four of them, everyone trying not to cry.  
  
"Where are Philip and Catherine?" Alex asks Lafayette. John glares at him. Lafayette laughs.   
  
"They're forcing all of us to get our pictures professionally taken," Lafayette explains, pulling Alex close to them and kissing the side of his head. The camera flashing stops.   
  
"It happened?" Martha asks, and Alex stops to laugh. He nods with Lafayette still leaning on his forehead. Martha jumps, her and George pulling all four of them into a group hug.  
  
"What's happening?" Sarah asks Hercules. Hercules stands up straighter.   
  
"Mom, Dad, Hugh, this is my other boyfriend, John, and my significant other, Lafayette," Hercules explains. John and Lafayette wave, and soon the three Mulligans all join the group hug.   
  
They get to the school fifteen minutes late, and they're immediately lined up. All of them see the glare they get from Angelica as they pass her and take their respective places in line. None of them miss James Reynolds' terrified expression as he tries to escape Angelica by pressing himself as close to Jacques as possible without it being weird.  
  
"Here we go," John whispers to Lafayette as the piano music starts and Theodosia leads their senior class down the steps and into their graduation.  
  
The ceremony is all a blur. Alex can't see half of it through his tears. When it's his time to stand up and go to the podium on the stage, he does it with shaky hands. He flips through the binder with all of the words that had been are going to be said to his typed out speech.  
  
"Class of 2016, I have to be honest when I say I have no idea why I was chosen to be the class speaker. I think it's because at the time 9 out the 19 kids in this class were all in my friend group, I voted for myself, and they thought I would do a good job at this, but I am very unprepared. Now that that's out of the way, we can try to attempt to sum up this senior year in one speech from someone who probably shouldn't be allowed to do it."  
  
His speech is beautiful and only slightly long winded. Lafayette can't help but tear up when Alex mentions Adrienne, glad that they have John right next to them. Alex thanks his class for letting him speak for such a long time and then gets off of the stage, sitting down in his seat next to James Callender, who looks like he's trying not to cry.   
  
Soon enough, the piano music starts again and the process from the gym. Alex hops up each of the concrete steps happily, excited over just graduating and the anticipation of being able to kiss the shit out of his significant others as soon as possible.   
  
There are even more pictures when they get back into the lobby, this time the Schuylers are there taking pictures. Once the whole thing is over, the eight of them graduating and Peggy all go to Alex's house.   
  
The whole time that all of them are there, it's wild. From making messes and screaming to basically eating every food available in the house. This time it's different, though. This time they're childish as graduates.   
  
The Schuyler sisters, Martha, and Maria eventually have to leave, and Alex can't help but feel slightly grateful. He closes the door behind them, sighing in relief as he does.  
  
"Why are you so happy?" John questions when Alex smiles at the closed door. Alex doesn't respond, just walks over to John and kisses him. John's eyebrows furrow, but he kisses back anyway.   
  
"I haven't been able to kiss you for more than like a second for hours. We just graduated! I want to celebrate it," Alex tells him. John smiles and kisses him again. Lafayette and Hercules roll their eyes, smiling.  
  
"I can't believe them," Lafayette whispers.  
  
"That sounds suggestive," John says. Alex laughs.  
  
"I really can't believe them," Lafayette tells Hercules. Hercules laughs, kissing Lafayette.   
  
"It was supposed to be," Alex mumbles to John. John scoffs, but he grabs his hands and runs up the stairs anyway.   
  
"I really _really_ can't believe them," Lafayette says, taking Hercules by the hand and following them.   
  
They graduated. They did it.   
  
They did each other too, but that's less important in the grand scheme of things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!fuck this isn't cute and I'm sorry!!!


	25. Epilogue

The four of them had gotten older in the ten years since their graduation day. It wasn't the anniversary of their graduation that they came back for, but it was the anniversary of something else.  
  
Lafayette has matured with age. They walk more confidently, laugh a lot louder. They have grown into a force to be reckoned with, something unstoppable and adamantine residing deep in their soul. A weapon to utilize when necessary, which is hopefully not often. Now they hold onto their boyfriends' hands with a purpose, a strength. It seems to pulse through their veins and in their blood, until they become the power.  
  
Hercules has gotten a lot of something. It's not something you can pinpoint or describe. He's become less afraid in his affections, knows that he can reach out and touch Lafayette, John, or Alex without them rejecting it. He finally believes in something and it's _them_ and he's so faithful to that. He's become louder in everything he does. He voices his opinions more frequently, professes his love more openly. He's become happily aware of the fact that he is one sappy motherfucker and he hopes that it never changes.  
  
Alex has turned into something akin to a strong matchstick. One look from him could melt the whole city into liquid metal. He becomes fierce in the way he speaks, passionately pouring soul and blood and bone into every word that comes out of his mouth. He sounds so sure in it that you hang off of every syllable he says to you, even if he's talking about the blandest subject on the planet. The three of them love to listen to him speak, feeling incredibly loved as Alex goes off topic to talk about the way they are and how much he loves them.  
  
John has aged beautifully. He kisses them with determination, trying to voice what he will tell them in the distance he closes between their lips. He isn't afraid to do that anymore, to kiss them at any time. He gets the same matchstick fire that Alex does. He handles it with less structure, recklessly and without care. When he let's it burn, it conflagrates, scorching anything everything in its wake. It scares them all sometimes, which scares John. They extinguish the fire as John sets it, letting him simmer down.  
  
Lafayette drives Philip Schuyler's car into the cemetery, stopping in the road going between the two side of it. They look over at John, who is sitting with a bouquet of flowers in his lap.  
  
"It's been so long," John whispers, tears hitting the protective plastic that the zinnias were wrapped in. Lafayette nods, afraid that if they say anything they'll cry. Alex fiddles with the white box in his hands turning it over. Hercules gently touches Alex's wrist and Alex stops.  
  
The wet grass squishes softly under their feet as they walk past the rows of graves. Lafayette is never ready to see it, but they have gotten better over the years.  
  
Adrienne was buried alone, 'Noailles' engraved into the polished white marble they chose to encapsulate her under. A picture of her is set into the stone, looking as beautiful as the day she was last seen. Her sparkling isn't visible in the picture, but you can't have everything.  
  
John held onto Lafayette's hand with both of his, crying into their shoulder. Lafayette's resolve is quickly shrinking, tears forming before they can think of it. Hercules' arms are wrapped around Alex's shoulders, chin on Alex's head. Alex can feel Hercules' tears seeping into his hair, but he knows not to move. Both of them will break if Hercules steps away.  
  
They don't know how long they're there for, but the sun is setting when they leave. Hercules nudges Alex, showing him the time displayed on his watch. Hercules shows the watch to Lafayette, who nudges John to look. They all nod, preparing to say goodbye.  
  
Lafayette sets the flowers down on her grave, tears still flowing down their face.  
  
They're trying to stand as straight as they can, afraid that they'll fall into the dirt if they don't. Hercules goes over to hold them up, supporting them when they cannot support themselves.  
  
Alex takes the music box out of its packaging, winding up the knob and setting it down. Lafayette sobs harder at the song that John's music box had gotten for Adrienne ten years ago rings throughout the entire cemetery.  
  
They stay there for a few moments longer before they turn to go back to the car. Lafayette stays behind for a few extra seconds.  
  
They genuflect, resting one hand on Adrienne's stone. They stare at it, still sobbing. Their sobbing stops to press a kiss to the top of the stone, tears splattering onto it as they do. They stand up, turning to follow their boyfriends into whatever life takes them into next.  
  
" _Je suis toute à vous_ ," Lafayette whispers back to the grave, walking around the front of the car into the diver's seat.  
  
She'd be proud of who they've become.  
  
That's all Lafayette needs to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU FOR GOING ON THIS HORRIBLE JOURNEY WITH ME I HOPE YOU HAD FUN


End file.
